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Institutional Review Board (IRB) & Data Access

Review and approval for public health research involving confidential Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) data

All requests for access to MDPH confidential information for research must have approval from the Commissioner of Public Health in accordance with M.G.L. c. 111, §24A. This protects the confidentiality of all information collected or created as part of an approved research study and imposes restrictions on use and disclosure of research data. All research involving human subjects conducted by MDPH employees, or agents working on its behalf, must be reviewed by the Department Institutional Review Board (IRB).

What would you like to do?

Top tasks

Apply for access to MDPH confidential records data  Apply for IRB Review 

What you need to know

Available data sets  Public health research definitions  Policy for conduct of human subject research 

Office for Human Research Protections 
Open DOCX file, 71.58 KB,  Frequently Asked Questions About IRB / Data Access (English, DOCX 71.58 KB)
Image credits:  Document Signature (Shutterstock)

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