An official said the University of Kansas Medical Center is reorganizing its animal care and research program to improve oversight and to ensure it’s meeting federal research rules.

U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors said they found about 160 violations of federal animal protection laws at the medical center between August 2008 and June 2009 experiments at university laboratories.

Although several items identified by USDA are under appeal, it was apparent that corrective actions were necessary, said executive vice-chancellor Dr. Barbara Atkinson.

“Upholding the highest regulatory and ethical research standards is something we take very seriously at the medical center,” Atkinson said. “With the changes being implemented, we are raising the bar for our animal care and related research environments, which are essential to developing cures and therapies for both human and animal diseases.”

Justin Goodman, of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which has complained about the research at KUMC, said he’s skeptical.

PETA believes that the medical center should refund all of the federal research grants it received for those programs that were the subject of the violations, he said.

PETA has filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the National Institutes of Health to check and see if federal regulators are following up KUMC’s remedial efforts, he said. PETA has yet to hear back, he said.

The group has also filed a state open records request with KUMC, he said.

Among the changes, Atkinson said KUMC has recruited veterinary scientist Dr. Vilma Zolynas, director of Princeton University’s Animal Facility, to the newly created post of executive director for the medical center’s Lab Animal Research facility. Dr. David Pinson, an internationally known veterinary pathologist, will serve in a new role as the executive director of Veterinary Services, overseeing clinical care for the animal, she said. Pinson will be a “regulatory veterinarian” to see that research protocols meet or exceed regulatory standards, Atkinson said.

Other changes include $700,000 in renovations to the Lab Animal Research facilities, the addition of five staff members to improve the staff-to-animal ratio, better monitoring and recordkeeping of the research process, she said.

One change PETA would like to see is the medical center to stop using hogs for surgical training, Goodman said. There are other, more effective ways to train surgery students, he said.

The benefits of animal research are overblown, Goodman said.

“We believe animals have the right to live and not be laboratory equipment,” he said.