Table 4. Reported concerns and challenges that were experienced during compliance with Institutional Review Board’s procedures and recommended actions .

Concerns/challenges	Recommended actions
Time-consuming and tedious IRB review process	(1) Advise researchers at the study design stage, (2) Improve communication efforts with PIs, (3) Focus more on the principles of ethics and less on scientific merits of a study, (4) Increase IRB membership, (5) Refer evaluation of studies’ scientific merit to college research committees
Unavailability of sufficient number of qualified experts to review specialized topics	Solicit the support of experts from the National Committee of Bioethics (NCBE)
Undergraduate students precluded by IRB from serving as principal investigators	Allow undergraduate students to serve as PIs for their studies if supervised by qualified faculty and received training in basic research and research ethics
Unfamiliarity by some campus members with the principles of research ethics	Conduct periodic research ethics awareness activities, training, and educational programs