Recent scandals and controversies, such as data fabrication in federally funded science, data manipulation and distortion in private industry, and human embryonic stem cell research, illustrate the importance of ethics in science. Responsible Conduct of Research, now in a completely updated second edition, provides an introduction to the social, ethical, and legal issues facing scientists today.
The current crisis in clinical research cannot be fully appreciated unless the underlying economic, sociological and motivational problems in American medicine are fully understood. Accordingly, this important book describes the evolution of biomedical research in relation to changes in institutional perceptions of the importance of each of the three roles that U.S. medical schools play--teaching, research and service to patients. Ahrens meticulously analyzes seven very different kinds of research activity that are included under the term "clinical research." He describes the profound shift in emphasis from patient-oriented research to research at the cellular and molecular level. This shift has created an imbalance between two contrasting research approaches to the problems of human disease--reductionism and integrative research. In searching out the reasons for this change, Ahrens carefully examines institutional supports for clinical research--the medical school environment in which the research is carried out and the main funding source, the National Institutes of Health. This timely work identifies the fundamental differences between reductionism and integrative research and provides clear evidence that if both modes are to prosper in the future, as they must, then patient-oriented research must receive far stronger support from U.S. medical schools and the N.I.H. Ahrens masterfully argues that changes must be made in the special training of clinical investigators and in their funding requirements, and that new working partnerships between clinically skilled M.D.s and technically trained Ph.D.s are urgently needed in order to restore patient-oriented research to full productivity and to accomplish a re-balancing that most effectively assures quality research in the future.
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
A rising median age at which PhD's receive their first research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is among the factors forcing academic biomedical researchers to spend longer periods of time before they can set their own research directions and establish there independence. The fear that promising prospective scientists will choose other career paths has raised concerns about the future of biomedical research in the United States. At the request of NIH, the National Academies conducted a study on ways to address these issues. The report recommends that NIH make fostering independence of biomedical researchers an agencywide goal, and that it take steps to provide postdocs and early-career investigators with more financial support for their own research, improve postdoc mentoring and establish programs for new investigators and staff scientists among other mechanisms.
The integrity of knowledge that emerges from research is based on individual and collective adherence to core values of objectivity, honesty, openness, fairness, accountability, and stewardship. Integrity in science means that the organizations in which research is conducted encourage those involved to exemplify these values in every step of the research process. Understanding the dynamics that support â€" or distort â€" practices that uphold the integrity of research by all participants ensures that the research enterprise advances knowledge. The 1992 report Responsible Science: Ensuring the Integrity of the Research Process evaluated issues related to scientific responsibility and the conduct of research. It provided a valuable service in describing and analyzing a very complicated set of issues, and has served as a crucial basis for thinking about research integrity for more than two decades. However, as experience has accumulated with various forms of research misconduct, detrimental research practices, and other forms of misconduct, as subsequent empirical research has revealed more about the nature of scientific misconduct, and because technological and social changes have altered the environment in which science is conducted, it is clear that the framework established more than two decades ago needs to be updated. Responsible Science served as a valuable benchmark to set the context for this most recent analysis and to help guide the committee's thought process. Fostering Integrity in Research identifies best practices in research and recommends practical options for discouraging and addressing research misconduct and detrimental research practices.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. Founded in the late 1870s, NIH has produced extraordinary advances in the treatment of common and rare diseases and leads the world in biomedical research. It is a critical national resource that plays an important role in supporting national security. The 310-acre Bethesda campus supports some 20,000 employees and contractors, and it contains more than 12 million square feet of facilities divided amongst nearly 100 buildings, including the largest dedicated research hospital in the world. The Bethesda campus supports some of the most sophisticated and groundbreaking biomedical research in the world. However, while some new state-of-the-art buildings have been constructed in recent years, essential maintenance for many facilities and the campus overall has been consistently deferred for many years. The deteriorating condition of NIH's built environment is now putting its ability to fulfill its mission at substantial risk. Managing the NIH Bethesda Campus's Capital Assets for Success in a Highly Competitive Global Biomedical Research Environment identifies the facilities in greatest need of repair on the Bethesda campus and evaluates cost estimates to determine what investment is needed for the NIH to successfully accomplish its mission going forward.
This book, written at the request of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to assist its AIDS program office in planning future directions, contains a series of recommendations for ensuring that AIDS research is a well-organized, well-planned, and comprehensive long-range program leading to the control and eventual eradication of the disease. The recommendations are intended to strengthen the planning, evaluation, and coordination of AIDS research activities; ensure their quality and cost-effectiveness; stimulate further development of promising research areas; increase the level of support for AIDS research so that researchers can carry out a comprehensive program; and provide the personnel and facilities at NIH needed to conduct and manage an effective, efficient AIDS research program. The book also identifies barriers in the delivery and financing of health care that are outside NIH's responsibility, but that adversely affect its AIDS clinical research efforts, and urges federal action to eliminate them.
