Student Training

Before you can officially begin conducting research with vertebrate animals, you need to get trained, certified and added to your faculty member’s animal research protocol. The IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) oversees all research on vertebrate animals, and everyone involved must do some basic training courses. The training is all online, and there are a couple of additional parts to take care of:

1. Training slides with quizzes via CITI (see below). You will need to complete the CITI course “Working with the IACUC” and any specific CITI courses related to the species of animal as directed by your professor such as “Working with Wildlife” or “Working with Rats.”
2. Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) safety training slides (quiz at the end). This is available on D2L in the Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Training course shell.
3. Medical evaluation forms for enrollment in the Occupational Health and Safety Program (OHSP). 

CITI Training

1. Log on to OneCampus using your Radford University email address and password. Search for CITI. Select this tile and you will be directed to the CITI website.    
2. If you do not already have a CITI account, click “Register” and create an account.  
3. Click “Select Your Organization Affiliation.” Using the drop-down list, select Radford University as your organization so that the cost of the training is covered by the university (otherwise the site will ask you to pay). This will also allow the Research Compliance Office to confirm the required CITI courses have been completed. 
4. Select “I AGREE to the Terms of Service, affirm your affiliation with Radford University, and click Create a CITI Program Account. 
5. Continue the steps to register.
6. Select the IACUC-required CITI course for research with vertebrate animals, “Working with the IACUC.”
7. Your Principal Investigator and professor may require you to complete additional species-specific courses. Check with your professor.
8. Once you have completed the CITI course(s), you can check the CITI training box as complete.  Print/save a copy of your completion certificate for your professor.

OHSP Enrollment

An additional piece to the puzzle related to conducting research using vertebrate animals is your enrollment in the Occupational Health and Safety Program (OHSP).

Enrollment in OHSP is required for all students, faculty and staff who work with animals at Radford University.

OHSP training, information about the program, and required forms to be completed may be found on Radford University's Desire 2 Learn (D2L) platform.

Search for "Environmental Health and Safety Training." Your professor will request access to the training course for you from EHS.

Once your professor has requested access for you from EHS, go to "Content" and find the folder marked "OHS Training - Animal Contact." Select that folder and click on the link "OHSP Training" at the top, just under the description of the folder. That will open the animated training slides and embedded quiz.  

The 3 forms in the folder marked “Required Documents to Complete for OHSP Enrollment” are the last piece of the health and safety evaluation to complete the IACUC training puzzle. The stuff offered (a physical, vaccinations) is optional, but you do have to fill everything out and sign them regardless of what you choose. Don’t forget to sign the form. 

It is strongly recommended that you be up to date on your tetanus shots. Download these forms, open them in Adobe Acrobat, fill them out, and sign them electronically, then submit them through the secure Dropbox link at the top of the D2L required forms folder.

If you do not have Adobe or cannot get the signature function to work for you properly, fill out the forms, print them, sign them, and then upload a scan or photo of the signed forms (all pages!) to the secure Dropbox.