Important – Immediate Action May be Required – 
Conflict of Interest Training

Distributed August 23, 2012

Dear Covered Individual*: 

UT Southwestern Medical Center is required to be in compliance with the new PHS Conflict of Interest (COI) Policy by August 24, 2012, and has updated its Financial Conflicts of Interest in Research Policy to meet the requirements of the new regulations. You may click here to view the summary of major changes which includes required COI training.  

Now that the annual collection of 2012 Statements of Financial Interests is nearing completion, UT Southwestern will deploy the second phase of the new COI requirements. UT System and NIH Policy require that Covered Individuals complete a COI training course every four years. We have developed a new, web-based training course on the CITI (Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative) site specifically for UT Southwestern to meet this requirement. 

Beginning August 24, 2012, a covered individual must have a current Statement of Financial Interests on file in UT Southwestern’s COI Office and must have completed the CITI COI training before a PHS-funded award may be established. You may go directly to the CITI site to initiate your COI training. Instructions for completing the required training may be found on UT Southwestern’s COI Office website under COI Training. COI training not completed by the time of a PHS-funded award will cause a hold on research funding until the training requirement is met. 

Covered individuals who do not have an upcoming new or renewal PHS-funded award have until December 31, 2012, to complete the required COI training. Please note that if you have completed prior UT Southwestern COI training within the previous two years, you are still required to complete the new CITI COI training. 

Thank you in advance for your continued assistance and cooperation with this important institutional requirement. If you have questions, please email Sheria Oswalt in the COI Office at sheria.oswalt@utsouthwestern.edu or call 214-648-5398. 

*A covered individual is defined as all faculty, study team members, IACUC, IRB, and COI committee members, Research Grants and Contracts staff, and Technology Development staff.