AAALAC: Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, International – A private, nonprofit organization that promotes the humane treatment of animals in science through a voluntary accreditation program. It is the accrediting body for animal research programs recognized by the VA for VA animal research. www.aaalac.org
AAHRPP: The association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs – The Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, Inc. (AAHRPP) promotes high-quality research through an accreditation process that helps organizations worldwide strengthen their human research protection programs (HRPPs).
An independent, non-profit accrediting body, AAHRPP uses a voluntary, peer-driven, educational model to ensure that HRPPs meet rigorous standards for quality and protection. To earn accreditation, organizations must provide tangible evidence—through policies, procedures, and practices—of their commitment to scientifically and ethically sound research and to continuous improvement. www.aahrpp.org
AAMC: Association of American Medical Colleges – An organization whose mission is to improve the health of the public by enhancing the effectiveness of academic medicine. They support institutions, organizations and individuals associated with academic medicine in:
- Educating the physician and the medical scientist workforce;
- Discovering new medical knowledge;
- Developing innovative technologies for prevention, diagnosis
and treatment of disease;- Providing health care services in academic settings.
Adverse Event (AE): Any reaction or undesirable event that occurs in conjunction with the use of a drug, biologic product, diagnostic agent, medical device, experimental procedure, or even accepted medical treatment (if part of a research protocol), whether or not the event is considered related to the drug treatment or procedures. Such events may be psychological, emotional, social and/or physical and include any illness, sign, symptom, or clinically significant laboratory test abnormality that has appeared or worsened during the course of the experimental study regardless of causal relationship to the drugs and procedures under study.
Assent: A child’s affirmative agreement to participate in research. Mere failure to object should not, absent affirmative agreement, be construed as assent.