Voting Members

• Chair – The leader of the oversight program who ensures the review processes are fair. The chair does not need to be a scientist but is responsible for fostering constructive discussions.
• Attending Veterinarian (AV) – A trained and experienced professional in laboratory practices and animal medicine who serves as a liaison to animal sciences. The AV critiques animal treatment and provides expertise on animal welfare.
• Scientist – Expert(s) in animal research with strong scientific knowledge, responsible for critiquing, assessing, and proposing alternatives to the proposed activities involving animals.
• Nonscientist – A person without a scientific background who provides critical ethical perspectives, advocating for research subjects from a nonscientific viewpoint.
• Nonaffiliated Member – A community member not affiliated with MTSU, often a nonscientist, who provides unbiased views, representing the general public’s opinion.

Non-Voting Members

• Ex-Officio – Campus-wide administrative members overseeing other regulatory processes at MTSU.
• Institutional Official (IO) – The administrative leader of the University’s animal program, a ranking official with authority to allocate resources and commit institutional support.
• Compliance Officer (CO) – The chief enforcer of federal guidelines, acting as a liaison between the IACUC and the MTSU research community.

The role of the non-voting administrative officials in the MTSU IACUC is to ensure the University’s commitment to fostering a culture of compliance is met. Their primary duty is to provide institutional support during the review process without intervening in the committee’s decisions.

Although they do not interfere with the IACUC’s approval process, institutional authorities can hold or defer an approved protocol for reasons such as resource constraints or feasibility at MTSU.