The honest broker would keep both the specimen and associated protected health information, but only allow researchers to have access to the specimen without the protected health information.
Honest brokers are typically appointed to a research project by an institutional review board.
[2] Organizations conducting breast cancer research have identified access to biological specimens as a top priority, and therefore honest broker systems are key to research because they increase access to specimens.
[3] In diplomacy an "honest broker" is an entity (individual or organisation) that is accepted by all sides in a negotiation as impartial.
[citation needed] German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was the first to use the term (applied to himself) in connection with the 1878 Congress of Berlin.