The IACUC Administrator's Guide to Animal Program Management

This book discusses effective, humane animal use program management. It offers practical advice on how to work within current regulations by providing best practices and guidance on how to design a program of animal care and use that fits within the context of federal policies and regulations. The authors also document proven and successful strategies for managing the IACUC, which will assist all administrators and institutions with the development and enhancement of animal care and use programs.

The IACUC Administrator’s Guide to Animal Program Management supports IACUC administrators who assist with developing, managing, and overseeing a program of animal care and animal use. It provides many options and possibilities for specific operational practices (e.g., how to build a well-functioning IACUC, what a functional protocol template looks like) to satisfy regulatory requirements.

The material provided is a compilation of several years of Best Practices (BP) meetings among IACUC administrators across the country. The BP meetings included representatives from the NIH/OLAW, AAALAC, and the USDA, whose presence and dialogue assured the BP discussion met or exceeded all regulatory or accreditation minimum standards. BP meeting attendees from private, public, governmental, and academic organizations have helped to shape and develop the information offered herein. It is through the insight of several hundred colleagues—their successes as well as their failures—that the authors have distilled suggestions and considerations for your local animal care and use program.

This handbook complements other useful references and manuals regarding programmatic function—it is not intended to replace them. The primary difference you will find is the transparent and open nature of describing processes that have been time tested and proven to help you and your organization satisfy the regulatory requirements.