This document was prepared by several of the co-authors of the paper and board members of the Social Science Genetic Association Consortium. For clarifications or additional questions, please contact: Daniel Benjamin (db468@cornell.edu).

Abstract: The Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) is responsible for overseeing compliance with the Department of Health and Human Services’ regulations governing research with human subjects. This article describes OHRP’s review of 6,511 incident reports from institutions conducting res...

In a commentary published in 2009 inNaturemagazine, Kim and colleagues1argued that the federal regulations governing research with humans (known as the Common Rule2) should be changed to exempt minimal-risk research from review by an institutional review board (IRB). Among other things, they claim th...

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) research combines powerful electromagnetic forces and sophisticated electronic technology to provide privileged glimpses into the human body. These features make the field a proving ground for ethical debate on research risks. They also create practical challenges for...

Scholars of the ethics of clinical trials have long recognized a tension between the therapeutic obligations1 of clinicians (physician, nurses, and other health professionals) and the scientific demands of clinical trials.2 The basis for this concern is clear: clinical care is focused on improving th...

In addition to risks to individual research subjects, scientific research poses risks to third parties and to groups. Genetic research presents such significant third-party risks to groups that the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health has funded a major Workin...

Growing concern over financial interests in clinical research has provoked greater efforts to identify effective management strategies.1 Among the strategies discussed is the disclosure of financial interests to potential research participants.2 However, there is little guidance available concerning ...

Framing the Issue In the 1990s, the term “the 10/90 gap” was used to refer to the gross inequity that only about 10% of global spending on health research was directed at alleviating the disease burdens of low- and middle-income countries, where roughly 90% of the world’s “preventable mortali...

Framing the Issue Families have always taken care of their ill and disabled relatives. Why should it be any different now? This disarmingly simple question often opens a policy discussion of the role of families in providing care to aging or chronically ill family members. Underlying this question is...

Framing the Issue The national conversation over Terri Schiavo illustrated how questions about severe brain injury became central to the past decade’s most convulsive bioethics debate. As is well appreciated by anyone who witnessed the events of spring 2005, the Schiavo case divided a family, a...