The University of Hawaiʻi once again received full accreditation by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) International in June 2022—recognizing UH as a top research institution that puts care and use of animals used in its research and teaching as a top priority.
The AAALAC report, covering a recent site visit to UH Mānoa’s John A. Burns School of Medicine and the UH Cancer Center, commends UH for providing and maintaining excellent laboratory animal care and use. The report found especially noteworthy: UH’s well-trained and dedicated animal care and veterinary staff; the engaged and knowledgeable Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC); the positive and supportive relationship among the animal care staff, veterinary personnel and research teams; and the veterinary staff’s effective and thorough training program for research personnel.
“I was extremely pleased by AAALAC’s praise of our veterinary and IACUC teams for providing and maintaining a high quality program of laboratory animal care and use at UH,” said Office of Research Compliance Director Victoria Rivera. “The continuation of our accreditation validates the hard work and dedication put forth by both teams to meet AAALAC’s rigorous criteria.”
In addition to assuring the public that research animals at UH receive the utmost care while contributing to experimental research and education, the accreditation enables UH to utilize evolving best practices to continuously evaluate and improve the program.
Other institutions that have also earned AAALAC accreditation include the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, The American Red Cross and the National Institutes of Health.
