During the course of the last century, a number of historical instances of unethical human research have occurred, and risen to the forefront of the social imagination. The atrocities of the European and Pacific Holocausts, the tragic 1932-1972 United States Public Health Service Syphilis Studies at Tuskegee, concomitant with the 1946-48 unethical…

In the last decades there has arisen a greater awareness of the ever present need for critical academic reflection on the nature of ethics leadership and committees in research, healthcare, and organizational systems. Yet what is meant by ethics itself? How is ethics understood as a historical phenomenon? What challenges must ethics leaders face…

Describes the research administration curriculum developed by the Office of Research Administration (ORA) at the Naval Medical Research Center. The curriculum educates students in the philosophical, legal, and sociological values and principles that undergird the responsible conduct of research, and serves as an important new pathway for promoting…

Discusses the role of research administrators as executive administrators and executive managers of Institutional Review Board (IRB) ethical review programs within biomedical research institutions. Suggests that research administrators who serve as IRB executives can work to transform biomedical research organizations from being only associations…