Office of Research | Coronavirus Research Updates

Coronavirus Research Updates

Important Announcement: 'Pause' in Human Subjects Research-Coronavirus Update

The ‘PAUSE’ in most human subjects research activities involving in-person, face-to-face interactions effected on March 16, 2020 has been extended until further notice -- unless canceling or postponing the interaction increases the risk to a research participant’s safety or well-being.

Read updated ‘Important Announcement’(PDF) & ‘Frequently Asked Questions (PDF).

If you have further questions, we encourage you to reach out to us by emailing Susan DeMocker, Associate Director of Research Protections, at sdemocker@pace.edu.

Pace University Institutional Review Board Meeting Schedule– 2020-2021 Academic Year−

Researchers who wish to request Full Board review must submit the IRB application four (4) weeks prior to the scheduled date for the IRB Full Board Meeting. The deadlines for submission to the IRB are listed below.

See ‘IRB Full Committee Meeting Schedule 2021-2021 (PDF)

Research Operations Continuity: Restart Guidance for Laboratory Principal Investigators and Lab Directors

The Research Operations Continuity Guide (PDF) is provided to assist researchers in their lab-specific preparations for bringing their research laboratories back online from temporary shutdown.

NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for COVID-19 Research Now Available

The strategic plan, released on July 13, 2020, provides a framework describing how NIH is accelerating the development of therapeutic interventions, vaccines, and diagnostics in response to the SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic.

Office Hours

The Office of Research holds weekly office hours (PDF) on Wendesdays 12:30-1:30pm to address questions related to grant resources and grant application process.

We also hold IRB Virtual Office Hours via zoom twice weekly to help answer questions from study teams. The virtual office hours will begin the week of 8/17/2020 and are currently planned to run through the week of 9/14/2020, with additional sessions added if needed. Pace Principal Investigators and study team members interested in joining a virtual office hour session may submit an email request to sdemocker@pace.edu. Study team members may sign up for one-time slot. Sessions are capped at 15 attendees. Once you have registered, an email confirming zoom details will be provided. Dates and times for upcoming sessions are:

Tuesdays 10:00am – 10:55am and 11:05am – 12:00pm
Thursdays 12:00pm – 12:55pm and 1:05pm - 2:00pm

PaceHealth

The Office of Research has completed the beta-testing phase of the new PaceHeatlh Platform and is rolling it out to our Pace community of researchers and clinicians.

PaceHealth is a new type of Zoom account that provides a HIPAA-compliant platform while utilizing the resources and hardware that you already have to expand your research capabilities and telehealth offerings.

If you are would like to migrate your current Zoom account to PaceHealth, here is some important information for you to know:

All video streaming with patients that fall under HIPAA must ONLY be conducted from a PaceHealth Zoom account;
Once an account has been migrated over to PaceHealth, it may not be migrated back to be a regular Zoom account;
PaceHealth requires Pace accounts to use Duo multifactor authentication (MFA) to login. Research participants and patients will not require a MFA;
All users that schedule Zoom meetings should be the first users moved over to PaceHealth;
Users that are migrated over to PaceHealth will need to recreate the “Schedule Privilege” settings to allow the designated users to schedule meetings on their behalf;
Any Zoom videos that are currently stored in the cloud will not be transferred over to the PaceHealth Account;
PaceHealth videos will not be able to be recorded in the cloud;
On the day of migration, all users will receive an email and will need to acknowledge and click on a link to move their account over to PaceHealth;
Previously scheduled meeting URLs will automatically be redirected to its new PaceHealth URL;
Once migrated, users will be able to access PaceHealth directly to login.

Additional PaceHealth Information

PaceHeatlh continues to encrypt all streaming video sessions.

If you are interested in learning more, or would like to be schedule a time to migrate your Zoom account to the PaceHealth, please email to Susan DeMocker at paceirb@pace.edu.

Pace Small Business Development Center

The Pace Small Business Development Center (SBDC) business advisors are offering virtual 1:1 sessions.

The Center also hosts a dedicated webpage for COVID-19 programming.

Guidelines for Faculty and Student Laboratory Research at Pace University

The response to the Coronavirus pandemic is leading to a global restructuring of how we interact with each other and with our institutions. This impacts the research enterprise especially in the laboratory sciences. The following guidelines, effective immediately, are designed for faculty and students as we attempt to protect ourselves and our communities.

Read the Guidelines for Faculty and Student Laboratory Research at Pace University (PDF)