The Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) has announced its first accreditations for 2019: a research institute in Massachusetts, a health care delivery system in California and a hospital in Taiwan.

 The three newly accredited organizations are:

• Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, LLC, of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts
• Memorial Health Services, Fountain Valley, California
• National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan

"These organizations join more than 600 entities worldwide in committing to shared high standards for safe, ethical research," AAHRPP President and CEO Elyse I. Summers said. "Their AAHRPP designation offers assurances—to potential partners, the scientific community and the general public—that study participants are protected and research results can be trusted."

The emphasis on universal standards is intensifying, in part, because of the trend toward multisite, multi-institutional research. In this environment, the common ground of AAHRPP accreditation can ease the way for successful collaboration.

"The benefits of a common standard are significant and, as the gold standard, AAHRPP accreditation is the logical choice," Summers said. "We continue to work toward one standard worldwide—one accreditation at a time."

To earn AAHRPP accreditation, organizations must show that they have built extensive safeguards into every level of their research operation and that they adhere to high standards for research.

AAHRPP has accredited organizations across the United States and in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, mainland China, India, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan and Thailand.

All major U.S. independent institutional review boards have earned AAHRPP accreditation. In addition, 70 percent of U.S. medical colleges and 85 percent of the top National Institutes of Health-funded academic medical centers are either AAHRPP accredited or have begun the accreditation process. NIH, the world's largest public funder of research, has earned accreditation, as has Pfizer, Inc., the largest industry sponsor of clinical research.