1. University of Pittsburgh
F S D P W o r k s h o p
University of Pittsburgh
Conflict of Interest Office A Partner in Promoting Integrity in Research, Teaching, and Administration

2. INTRODUCTION TO THE SUPERFORM SYSTEM & FINANCIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST MANAGEMENT
COI Office
David Wehrle, Director
Khrys Myrddin, Associate Director
April 2, 2010

3. What is a Conflict of Interest?
A potential Conflict of Interest (COI) may exist if an individual’s outside interests (especially financial) may affect, or perceive to affect, his/her research, teaching, or administrative activities at the University.

4. Examples of Potential Conflicts
Professor Maureen Belstein, faculty member/researcher
Consultant/speaker for National Tool Company (she earned $35,000 last year)
NTC wants to sponsor university research to evaluate new technologies
Professor Belstein wants to be PI on the study

5. Examples of Potential Conflicts (cont’d)
Dr. William Monardo, faculty member/ researcher
President/owner of Laboratory Solutions, Inc. (LSI)
Dr. Monardo’s research group purchases scientific supplies and equipment from LSI.

6. Examples of Potential Conflicts (cont’d)
The University was awarded a federal grant on which Dr. Ari Samuel serves as PI.
He subcontracted a portion of the work to Scanware for installation of eye-movement analysis software.
Dr. Samuel has an equity interest in this vendor.

7. Examples of Potential Conflicts (cont’d)
Dr. Maryann Ruecken developed a back brace, which was patented by the University; she receives royalties for the device through Pitt
The technology is licensed to Strait & Narrow, Inc., a non-publicly held company
She holds equity in the company
Dr. Ruecken is conducting federally sponsored research to further evaluate the technology.

8. Examples of Potential Conflicts (cont’d)
Dr. Argus Hawkeye invented forceps for micro surgery of the eye;
This device was licensed to Rod & Cone Corp by the University;
Dr. Hawkeye has a right to licensing income (royalties) for the device through Pitt;
Dr. Hawkeye wishes to be PI on a clinical trial to further develop the forceps.

9. Importance of COI Management
Why is it important to identify and manage conflicts of interests?

10. Importance of COI Management (cont’d)
If COI is not managed…
protection of human subjects may be compromised;
integrity of research may be at risk;
the public may lose trust in the University and its research findings;
the investigator/faculty member may lose the respect of the academic community;
violation of scientific norms may result;
University may lose public support and funding for academic science;

11. Importance of COI Management (cont’d)
product or service may be inferior;
price may be too high;
may give actual or perceived improper preferential treatment to vendors;
may violate terms of research grants and contracts (including failure to disclose COI) and federal regulations.

12. Importance of COI Management (cont’d)
research results may be excessively delayed or not published;
there may be a negative impact on students;
University resources may be improperly used;
increased government regulations may result;
scandals or negative media attention may occur….

13. Today’s topics Departmental responsibilities Annual COI filing process
Using the Superform system
COI Oversight & Management

14. Today’s topics (cont’d)
University-level COI Management
Research protocols
Entrepreneurial endeavors
Purchasing
Office of Research
Additional Help with COI/Resources

15. Annual COI Filing Process
University Policies
(COI – Research/Teaching)
(COI – Designated Administrators and Staff)
Annual COI memo from the provost & executive vice chancellor
Note: A new University COI policy has just been signed by the Chancellor.

16. Annual COI Filing Process: Who?
Faculty/Researcher Form
All individuals with regular faculty appointments
Employees who direct or can materially influence research, or who are responsible for the design, conduct, and reporting of research

17. Annual COI Filing Process: Who? (cont’d)
Designated Administrator/Staff form
Employees classified as Administrator IV or above, and those of other classifications (including faculty) who are in a position to make, direct, or materially influence University business decisions (e.g., employees who have significant influence over the selection of outside vendors or providers of services)
Deans, department chairs, division chiefs, and center directors with faculty appointments must complete both University forms.

18. Reporting Financial Relationships: When?
Institutional Policies
Policies and require reporting of the outside interests of faculty, administrators, and investigators
upon appointment
by April 15 of each year
whenever new outside interests are accrued
using the Superform system

19. What is the Superform system?
The electronic Superform system must be used to file COI disclosures (there is no paper form).
All forms filed become part of a secure COI database, accessible only to authorized individuals.
The Superform system includes reporting forms for only the University of Pittsburgh.
UPMC uses a separate system accessible through Infonet

20. Who Has Access to the COI Database?
IRB/IACUC/CORID
Purchasing
Office of Research
Internal Audit
General Counsel
COI Office
COI Committee Chair
Regional Campus Presidents/Deans/ Department Chairs
Research administrators/coordinators

21. Who Has Access to the COI Database? (cont’d)
Research administrators can determine whether investigators have a current COI form on file
Request access through the COI Office (requires name, HSConnect username, departmental affiliation, and level of access to be granted. i.e., basic or operational
Send request to

22. Making disclosures—Using the Superform system
Returning users:
Login using existing HSConnect account
Retrieve forgotten password
Do not create a new account!
Update HSConnect profile
Change address/password
New users:
Create an HSConnect account
If no links to forms appear on Welcome screen, add University affiliation to profile

23. Making disclosures—Using the Superform system (cont’d)
Select the form you wish to complete
First-time users must answer every question
Returning users will be taken to the Form Summary page
Edit responses as applicable
Review the Form Summary
Click “Submit this form”
Click “View and Print” next to the form you wish to print
Print and sign Signature Page (SP)

24. Making disclosures—Using the Superform system (cont’d)
Forward Faculty/Researcher SP to department chair for review and signature
Forward Admin/Staff SP to the next higher administrator (who is at least at the level of director or department chair) for review and signature

25. COI Oversight by Supervisors Faculty/Researcher—Department Level
Department Chairs review Faculty/Researcher disclosures
Ensure that all required employees have signed and submitted the Signature Page by April 15

26. COI Oversight by Supervisors Faculty/Researcher—Department Level (cont’d)
Prepare Management Reporting Forms (MRF) for individuals who disclosed outside interests
Section E: Is disclosure alone of the individual’s potential conflict in abstracts, publications, presentations, press releases, and in proposals and applications for research funding sufficient to manage the conflict?
Answer Yes, if an individual's outside activities create no conflict with his/her University work, i.e., s/he is not conducting research of commercial interest to any company or making purchases from any company with which s/he has a relationship

27. COI Oversight by Supervisors Faculty/Researcher—Department Level (cont’d)
Answer No if any relationship requires COI management; describe actions taken; e.g., SMP has been invoked for a clinical trial; a data monitoring committee was established for the individual’s research program; entrepreneurial activities are being overseen by the COI Committee, etc.

28. COI Oversight by Supervisors Faculty/Researcher—Department Level (cont’d)
Prepare departmental Annual Data Summary report
Submit Signature Pages, related MRFs, and department’s Annual Data Summary Report to dean for review
SPs on which no outside interests were disclosed do not need to be submitted to the dean

29. COI Oversight by Supervisors Faculty/Researcher—Dean’s Level
Dean reviews forms received from chairs
Approves or modifies any MRFs, as necessary
Prepares School’s Annual Data Summary Report
Submit Signature Pages, related MRFs, and Departments’ and School’s Annual Data Summary Reports to the provost or senior vice chancellor for the health sciences by Monday, May 17, 2010

30. COI Oversight by Supervisors Designated Administrators/Staff—Department Level
Supervisor reviews Designated Administrators/Staff disclosures
Ensures that all required employees have signed and submitted the SP by April 15
The supervisor should work with the employee to develop a plan to manage any potential COI and document it in the form of a memorandum (do not use the MRF)
Prepares a brief memo summarizing disclosures made, and submits it to the next higher reporting authority within the responsibility center

31. COI Oversight by Supervisors Designated Administrators/Staff—Department Level
Report unresolved conflicts to the provost, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences, or executive vice chancellor by Monday, May 17;
SPs and management plans of resolved conflicts need not be forwarded, and should be filed in department

32. COI Oversight
Signature Pages, Management Reporting Forms, and Annual Data Summary Reports are ultimately forwarded to the COI Office by the provost or senior vice chancellor for the health sciences
Everything you need for the annual COI filing process can be found at

33. Departmental COI Management
Prospective approval from department chair or dean is required for
Consultancies, speaking engagements, and membership on scientific advisory boards
cannot use University facilities or resources
total time expenditures in all outside professional activities cannot exceed one day per week
Note: staff members must conduct all outside activities on their own time
Involvement of students in outside entities or in research of interest to a company in which a faculty member has a financial interest
Purchasing from, or subcontracting work to, a company in which an individual has a financial interest

34. Departmental COI Management (cont’d)
Management Options
Divestment or reduction of financial interest
Disclosure of COI in publications, presentations, press releases, abstracts, and in proposals and applications for research funding
Disclosure of potential COI to others involved in the research
Establishment of an oversight committee
Dilution of investigator’s role in study, i.e., cannot be PI, but may be co-investigator

35. Proper use of students/staff by faculty members with outside interests
Prospective review and approval of activities by department chair or dean
Formal notification of faculty members’ interest in an outside company
Faculty members should distribute Student/Staff Notification Form for signature by students/staff
Students/staff should discuss any concerns with faculty members’ non-conflicted supervisor and/or COI Committee

36. Proper use of students/staff by faculty members with outside interests (cont’d)
Work under approved Corporate Research Agreement (CRA) should correspond to effort provided for in the CRA (e.g., no overtime)
Cannot be compelled to perform work that will benefit the company
Compatibility with academic interests of students
Timely ability to publish research results for academic credit without hindrance by the company’s commercial interests

37. Proper use of students/staff by faculty members with outside interests (cont’d)
Assurance that students’ inventions remain property of University
Employment of students at faculty member’s company
Salary must be commensurate with tasks performed
Students/staff cannot perform work on University time or use University resources related to a faculty member’s outside professional activities (e.g., providing administrative assistance with faculty’s outside consulting activities)

38. Proper use of students/staff by faculty members with outside interests (cont’d)
Reporting of troublesome COI issues by students/staff
to department chair, dean, school’s representative in the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly and/or the Conflict of Interest Committee, or
AlertLine, : anonymous, 24 hours a day, accessible from any North American telephone.

39. SOHS/UPMC Industry Relationship Policy
Covers interactions between faculty/ staff in the Schools of the Health Sciences and representatives of the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and hospital equipment supply industry (“Industry”)
Bans gifts & meals
Prohibits participation in “Speakers Bureaus”
Defines criteria for participation at off-site meetings

40. SOHS/UPMC Industry Relationship Policy (cont’d)
Imposes certain requirements on consulting contracts
Compensation must be tied to specific deliverables (i.e., no flat rate per month)
Contracts for more than $10K/12 months must be approved by office of Senior Vice Chancellor for the Health Sciences, Dr. Arthur Levine

41. University-level COI Management—Research Protocols
The COIC is responsible for managing potential conflicts involving the following:
Human subject research overseen by the IRB
Animal research overseen by the IACUC
Research on the clinically brain-dead (CORID)
Recombinant DNA research (rDNA/IBC)
Human stem cell research (hSCRO)

42. University-level COI Management—Research Protocols (cont’d)
COI questions appear on protocol applications; apply to PI, Co-Is, and research coordinators
PI is responsible for ensuring that all Co-Is and research coordinators answer these questions
Reporting must be kept current
Whenever new outside interests are accrued, faculty members should notify the COI Office and the appropriate regulatory committee (e.g., IRB, IACUC, etc), and update their Faculty/Researcher forms. 42

43. COI Questions on Protocols
Does the principal investigator or any co-investigator or research coordinator involved in this study (or in aggregate with his/her spouse, dependents or other members of his/her household):
a. possess an equity interest in the entity that either sponsors this research or owns the technology being evaluated that exceeds 5% ownership interest or a current value of $10,000?
b. receive salary, royalty or other payments from the entity that either sponsors this research or owns the technology being evaluated that is expected to exceed $10,000 per year?
……. 43

44. COI Questions on Protocols (cont’d)
c. have rights to the intellectual property (IP) being evaluated as either the inventor of the IP for which a patent has been issued, or as the inventor of the IP that has been optioned or licensed to a company?
d. have a financial relationship with a Licensed Start-up Company that has an option or license to utilize the technology being evaluated? 44

45. COI Questions on Protocols (cont’d)
IRB only
e. Receive compensation of any amount when the value of the compensation would be affected by the outcome of the research, such as compensation that is explicitly greater for a favorable outcome than for an unfavorable outcome or compensation in the form of an equity interest in the entity that either sponsors this research or owns the technology being evaluated.

46. University COI Management—Research Protocols
Answering Yes to any of the questions on the IRB protocol requires use of the Standard COI Management Plan (SMP) for Human Subject Research
Available w/in OSIRIS and from the COI Office Web site:

47. University COI Management—Research Protocols
For IACUC, CORID, and hSCRO, investigator cannot be PI if s/he answers Yes to the questions asking about equity, remuneration, or a relationships with a start-up company.
Management plan similar to SMP, less the items specific to HSR
IBC did not adopt the PI-exclusion rule; reviewed on a case-by-case basis
Financial relationships only in the IP being evaluated are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

48. University-level COI Management—Licensed Start-up Companies
The COI Committee is responsible for managing potential conflicts involving start-up companies (i.e., not publicly traded)
that have an option or a license for University intellectual property
in which equity (including stock options) is held by University employees or students, members of their immediate families, or by the University
Special restrictions on individual relationships with these companies

49. University-level COI Management—Purchasing
University Purchasing Services refers issues to the COI Office for review; e.g., if the requestor or approver of a Directed/Sole Source form has a financial relationship with the company from which a purchase is being requested
Purchasing Services reports quarterly to the COIC on purchases made from licensed start up companies

50. University-level COI Management—Office of Research
University must attest that the PI of a grant has a current COI disclosure on file; grants administrators query COI database
Contracts officers query the database to see whether PI or other investigators have disclosed a relationship with an industry sponsor
Refer to COI Office for review & management

51. Additional Help with COI Management
Conflict of Interest Office
COI Office Web site
includes sample management plans,
case studies, oversight checklist for supervisors, COI-related forms, links to relevant policies and the Superform system, and the annual COI memo from the provost and the executive vice chancellor

52. Resources: Learning about COI
COI management presentations tailored to specific departments, upon request
ISER (Internet-based Studies in Education and Research) Conflict of Interest Module…

53. ISER COI Module: Who must complete it?
Those who have disclosed outside interests on the University’s Faculty/Researcher form and/or those involved in industry-sponsored research are required to complete the ISER COI module (formerly RPF module 4).

54. Completing the ISER COI Module
Go to
click "All Modules"
select "COI Module" from list
Test out of module
Take chapter quizzes
Receive certification

55. Completing the ISER COI Module (cont’d)
at this time, re-certification is not required (despite the “expired” note that may appear in system)
access to the ISER database for appropriate individuals (to determine whether the COI module was completed) may be requested through Kathy Sidorovich

56. Questions?

57. Contacts/Assistance Jerome L. Rosenberg, PhD/Chair, COI Committee
David T. Wehrle, CPA, CIA, CFE/Director, COI Office
Khrys X. Myrddin/Associate Director, COI Office
Hannelore Rogers, MA/Coordinator, COI Office
COI Web site:
iTarget Team: for technical assistance with Superform system