Courses, Lectures, & Training
- Ethical and Regulatory Aspects of Clinical Research
- Joint Bioethics Colloquium
- Ethics Grand Rounds
- IRB Training Program
- Multinational Capacity Building
Ethical and Regulatory Aspects of Clinical Research
This course is offered to anyone interested or involved in the ethics of clinical research with human subjects. Participants represent multiple disciplines including research teams, IRB members, physicians, psychologists, nurses, social workers, administrative staff, students, and others.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, participants are able to:
- Utilize a systematic framework for evaluating the ethics of a clinical research protocol.
- Apply appropriate codes, regulations, and other documents governing the ethical conduct of human subject research to their own research.
- Discuss controversial issues relating to human subject research, including Phase 1 research, randomization, children in research, international research, etc.
- Identify the critical elements of informed consent and strategies for implementing informed consent for clinical research.
- Describe the purpose, function, and challenges of IRBs.
- Appreciate the experience of human subjects who have participated in research protocols.
2017 Course Information
- Course will meet in the NIH Clinical Center, Bldg 10, Lipsett Amphitheater: Wednesdays, 8:30 - 11:30 AM, September 27 - November 8, 2017.
- Registration for the course is now open: register for this course [disclaimer]
- Course materials, instructions for off-site participation, and more information
- Videocast of current lecture
- Videocasts of past lectures
Joint Bioethics Colloquium
- The Joint Colloquium in Bioethics is a topical seminar that meets 4-5 times each semester at the NIH Clinical Center to discuss the work of distinguished visiting speakers. The seminar is co-sponsored by the NIH Department of Bioethics, The Kennedy Institute of Ethics, and the Philosophy Departments of George Washington University and the University of Maryland. Each meeting includes a two-hour discussion of the visiting scholar's work (circulated ahead of time), followed by an informal dinner on-site. Discussion is friendly but quite lively as a diversity of perspectives is represented. The seminars are attended by a small and select group of faculty, graduate students, and post-doctoral candidates.
- Current Semester (Fall 2017) – Consciousness
- September 25 – Melanie Boly, University of Wisconsin
- October 31 – David Leopold, NIMH
- November 20 – Colin Allen, University of Indiana
- December 12 – Peter Carruthers, University of MD
- List of Past Topics
- Feminism
- Topics in Neuroscience: Ethical Explorations
- Moral Responsibility in Relation to Biological Causes
- Global Justice
- Parenting and Procreation
- Complicity
- The Ethics of Incentives
- Discrimination, Stereotyping and Profiling
- Duty to Rescue
- Risk
- Compromise
- Deception
- Moral Luck
- Paternalism
- Forgiveness
- Role Morality
- Emotions
- Empirical Moral Psychology
- Disabilities
- Obligations to Future Generations
- The Moral Status of Embryos, Fetuses and Infants
- Enhancements
- Equality in Healthcare
- Non-ideal Ethical Theory and Practice
- The Ethical Basis of Human Rights
- The Moral and Health Significance of the Natural
- Coercion and Manipulation
- Equality
- Exploitation
- International Justice and Biomedical Research
- Trust
- Health Disparities
Ethics Grand Rounds
- The Department of Bioethics presents Ethics Grand Rounds as part of the Clinical Center Grand Rounds program. Ethics Grand Rounds generally take place four times per year, on Wednesdays from noon-1pm, in Lipsett Auditorium.
- The next Ethics Grand Rounds will occur on the following Wednesdays at noon in Lipsett Auditorium or by webcast:
- October 4th, 2017
- December 6th, 2017
- February 7th, 2018
- April 4th, 2018
- List of Recent Topics
- Dual Use (Emanuel Lecture)
- Pediatric Donors
- Surrogates with conflicts of interest: how should clinicians respond?
- How should clinicians handle cases of misattributed parentage?
- Slides from past years of Ethics Grand Rounds are available (until 2011)
- Grand Rounds presentations since 2011 can be seen via webcast.
IRB Training Program
- Members of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), IRB administrators, research ethics committees, tribal governance bodies, and others who are involved in research participant protections are invited to apply for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Institutional Research Board (IRB) internship Program.
- The Department of Bioethics, National Institutes of Health, in cooperation with the NIH Combined NeuroSciences IRB and the National Human Genome Research Institute Education and Community Involvement Branch, offers an IRB internship for a cohort of up to five (5) qualified candidates every year, subject to funding. The selected interns will observe meetings of several intramural IRBs, shadow IRB staff, attend the NIH human subjects research ethics course, attend IRB training courses and staff meetings, and take part in various research seminars offered by the Department of Bioethics. Interns may also participate in elective activities, including visiting the Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) and serving as ad hoc reviewers of IRB protocols, depending on interest and expertise. Interns will be given a workspace in the Department of Bioethics.
- Participants will be presented with a Certificate upon successful completion of the internship. The program typically runs from September to December. In some years, a spring session may be added as needed.
- Applications will be accepted starting April 1st to April 30th, 2017.
- Proceed to the application instructions and more information
Multinational Capacity Building
We have several initiatives designed to build capacity in low- and middle-income countries, including:
- International workshops in health policy and research ethics for researchers, governmental officials, and IRB and Ethics Committee members
- International workshops to support a network of young scholars in bioethics from low- and middle-income countries
- Three month IRB training program that brings participants from resource poor settings to the NIH for training in ethics and IRB review
- Joint NIH-University of Bergen Ph.D. program for candidates from low- and middle-income countries. Please contact the Department or Reidar Lie for more information [disclaimer] about this program
- Of the fellowships that we offer, the two-year postdoctoral training program is open to both international and domestic participants. The predoctoral training program is open only to domestic participants.
- Short-term appointments for visiting scholars and researchers from around the world
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