The mission of the Penn State College of Medicine Institutional Review Board (IRB) is to advocate for the rights and welfare of human research participants and to promote high quality research by fostering an institutional culture embodying the highest ethical standards of human research.

The Human Subject Protection Office (HSPO) administers the institutional program to protect individuals who participate in research, provides administrative support to the IRB and assists faculty and staff to promote the protection of the participants of research. HSPO staff provide guidance to investigators in the proposal process, design and conduct of human subjects research; develop educational resources and programs for research staff; and review research for quality purposes and compliance with applicable federal law and local policies.

Review and approval is required for all research involving human participants conducted by Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (HMC) or the College of Medicine (COM). Both the medical center and college of medicine have completed assurance agreements with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Human Research Protection, to describe the institutions’ human subjects program and assure compliance with federal regulations for human subject protection. In addition, the institution has successfully met the criteria for accreditation of it's human subject protection program.