VAIRRS Ambassador Program

In each issue of the VAIRRS Newsletter (every other month), a leading site utilizing the VAIRRS program is selected as a VAIRRS Ambassador. Facilities are evaluated based on participation, enthusiasm and commitment to improving the system and contributing to the benefits the VAIRRS enterprise has to offer. The selected VAIRRS ambassador serves as a great role model to other sites across the country, who want to learn more about VAIRRS and how the program can make their job more efficient and effective. The July VAIRRS Ambassador is the Madison VAMC.

VAIRRS September Ambassador: VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System

VAIRRS Experience: In February 2021, VA Greater Los Angeles (GLA) Healthcare System Research & Development announced the transition from iMedRIS to the IRBNet/VAIRRS platform. To assist with the transition, GLA offered seven MS Teams training sessions for their 800+ researchers and staff. The training sessions were held from March 1 - 11, 2022 at varying times and locations to accommodate researchers' schedules. All sessions were led by Mr. Cody Knight, the GLA IRBNet administrator, who provided exceptional support and technical assistance. Additionally, VA GLA recorded a training session and made the video available to all researchers and staff via the GLA Internal Research Service SharePoint site for on-demand access with related IRBNet information, walkthrough tutorials and research forms. GLA’s IRBNet data transition began on March 22nd when ~500 active projects were migrated to the new system. Within the following two weeks, GLA committee coordinators manually uploaded all study documents into IRBNet for these projects, to complete the data migration process and successfully launch our IRBNet “go live” on April 5, 2021. During the first year of GLA’s integration, they prioritized communication efforts to inform their community about IRBNet updates and reminders of important deadlines.

GLA leadership’s response to this transition (Drs. Linda Demer, Scott Krahl and Taigy Gooding) and the skillset and proactiveness of the GLA team (Mr. Cody Knight, Dr. Elizabeth Corey and Dr. Fredricka Martin) were instrumental in helping the facility reach their transition goals within a very short time period. VA GLA also had dedicated committee coordinators, Daniela Macias, Edward Hallisy, Alissa Simon, Margaret Roch, John Berard, and Giselle Henry, who made the transition possible. In addition, the VA GLA communications manager, Ms. Cynthia Gammage, played a pivotal role, leading the email, training and SharePoint campaign efforts to keep the community informed.