Beginning Phased Rollout
Penn's Adverse Events Reporting System

We are pleased to announce that on November 25, the Penn Human Subjects Adverse Events Reporting (PennAEs) component of the PennERA system was released to select members of the University of Pennsylvania's academic research community. PennAEs is a web-based software solution that facilitates the tracking and collecting of adverse events in clinical trials and the reporting of serious adverse events involving human subjects to the Institutional Review Boards of the University of Pennsylvania.

The system will be released in phases to facilitate orientation and the support of new users of the system. Additional members of the University community will be given access throughout the fall. This phased rollout follows a successful pilot release of the system that began in September 2002. This is a first release and over time, as hands-on use expands, there may be enhancements to terminology and navigation features of the system. This evolutionary approach to a new system and associated processes will help ensure that PennAEs will facilitate and enable improved tracking and information collection. Faculty investigators and the members of their research teams will be notified when PennAEs is available for campus-wide use.

PennAEs is one of the several components of the PennERA (Penn Electronic Research Administration) project. This multi-year project is designed to enhance the processes that support research and grants administration at the University.

If you have any questions or would like more information about the PennAEs component of the PennERA system, or if you wish to register to use PennAEs, please send an e-mail to pennaes@pobox.upenn.edu or contact Chris Sandy at (215) 746-6266. For the most up-to-date information on the PennERA project, visit the web site at www.pennera.upenn.edu/.

--Robin H. Beck, Vice President of Information Systems and Computing

--Andrew B. Rudczynski, Executive Director of Research Services
and Associate Vice President of Finance

--Joseph R. Sherwin, Director of the Office of Regulatory Affairs