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Short Courses in Research Ethics funded by the NIH

The projects listed here are ones to create new courses and educational resources in research ethics. They were funded under an initiative mandated by President Clinton in his apology to the victims of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study on May 16, 1997. Here is a list of the projects funded under this initiative with links to Web sites created by or for some of these projects:

Interactive Modules for Student-Faculty Learning about the Responsible Conduct of ResearchOnline Center for Ethics in Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University.: This series of modules focuses on the ethical issues that arise in the research setting. The modules are designed to allow all members of a particular research community to discuss issues by talking about scenarios that describe realistic situations researchers often face. Modules cover topics as diverse as responsible authorship, research with the mentally ill, research with human biological materials, and genetic research.
Ethics in Research Focusing on Behavioral Health Services: An Intensive Training Course -- University of South Florida.: This four day training course focuses on the ethical and legal issues that arise when vulnerable populations are used as research subjects, such as people with severe mental disabilities. The course is primarily for (a) advanced doctoral or newly graduated minority students who wish to conduct human services research, (b) practitioners and advocates (including primary consumers and family members) conducting human services research, and (c) people on IRBs that review proposals in which vulnerable persons are used as subjects. Future courses are scheduled for December 2001 and May 2002. The current website will be expanding to adjust to more of a distance learning focus.
Ethics of Research with Humans: Past, Present, Future-- University of Washington.: This is a weeklong course on ethical issues that arise when doing research with human subjects, with an opportunity to obtain additional training through participation in a Certificate Program in Research Ethics. This Certificate Program can be completed through distance learning. This course and Certificate Program is for individuals who are involved in human subjects research, including active researchers, IRB chairs, members, and administrators, research nurses, project managers, and others who are involved in human subjects issues. Courses are currently scheduled for June 12-16, 2000 and June 11-15, 2001.
Program on Ethical Issues in International Health Research -- Harvard School of Public Health, in collaboration with Tufts University Medical School, Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica (Cuernavacea, Mexico), The University of Natal School of Medicine (Durban, South Africa), and the Acutha Menon Centre for Medical and Social Sciences of the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Techology (Thiruvanthapuram, Kerala, India).: This project is designed to develop courses and educational material to be used in courses that explore the issues that arise when research is conducted in different cultural settings or in places that have different health-related concerns. The courses are designed for researchers, research managers, IRB members, and funding officials from government, foundations, and industry.
Research Ethics in the Clinical, Biomedical and Public Health Sciences -- University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.: These programs are primarily for area researchers. However, there are national conferences open to all researchers. In addition, workbooks and anthologies, appropriate for a variety of teaching settings, are in the process of being produced.
Short Course on Racial and Ethnic Minorities as Research Subjects: Challenges for Research Ethics -- American Association for the Advancement of Science, University of Wisconsin, and Tuskegee University.: This course is for anyone who uses human subjects in research, oversees human subjects research, represents human subjects, or teaches biomedical or research ethics. The course is designed to improve the skills of those involved in human subjects research in anticipating and addressing the ethical concerns associated with using minority populations in research and to assist course participants in designing materials and teaching strategies for training in the ethics of conducting research.
Scientists and Subjects: An Internet-based Seminar on the Ethics of Research With Human Subjects-- Indiana University.: Seminar members meet in person in March and then via a LISTSERV discussion group for three months to discuss crucial and controversial aspects of research with human participants. Prospective participants must complete an application form and participants are selected by the Scientists and Subjects Advisory Board.
International Research Ethics: A Short Course-- Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management and Bioethics Institute.: Long and short courses are offered that educate participants and engage them in thoughtful discussion about the ethical issues that arise when conducting research in developing countries. In addition to hearing lectures and panel presentations and participating in discussions about particular cases, participants in the longer course have the opportunity to serve on a mock IRB and practice drafting consent forms. There are plans to develop a distance learning version of the course.
Embedding Ethics in a Clinical Research Training Program-- Albert Einstein College of Medicine.: This is a project to develop a teaching program devoted to integrating research ethics into the Clinical Research Methods Training Program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. As part of this initiative, Dr. Ruth Macklin has developed a new required course for participants in the overall Training Program, which offers a Master of Science degree in Clinical Research Methods for clinicians. In addition to containing information about this course, this site also contains a bibliography and links to other useful sites.
Training Preceptors in Human Research Ethics: Augmentation of a Southwestern Program with a Minority Focus-- University of New Mexico School of Medicine.: This is a project to develop an annual course designed to train students who are active in human subjects research and who have an interest in human research ethics to be preceptors. Such preceptors would then use this training to promote ethical research awareness throughout the campus.
Especially Difficult Challenges in Epidemiology and Public Health Research-- University of Miami.: This project is designed to develop three short courses which focus on the difficult challenges in epidemiology and public health research. Topics in these courses are diverse. They include, ethics and biostatistics, data sharing and proprietary interests in bioinformatics, and scientists as advocates for social practices. In addition, a workshop was developed for journalists on how to cover issues in research ethics.
Research Ethics and Minority Populations-- University of California, Los Angeles.: This project is to develop two courses to educate human subjects researchers about doing research with vulnerable populations and special populations. The NIH Revitalization Act of 1993 mandates the inclusion of women and minorities in NIH clinical research studies. These courses are designed to provide researchers with the education needed to handle the special issues that arise in conducting research with these populations.
A Practicum on Research Ethics: The Ideal of Informed Consent in Practice-- Columbia University.: This project is to develop a course in research ethics. This course is designed to familiarize participants with core principals and seminal events in research ethics. In particular, informed consent and assessing capacity to give informed consent are discussed as well as increasing participants' awareness of the vulnerabilities of special populations.
Distance Learning for Institutional Review Boards on Ethical Issues in Genetics-- Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center.: This project is to develop distance learning workshops to familiarize research administrators and IRB members with the techniques and research applications of the new genetics and with the ethical, legal and social issues unique to these developments.