Report: Research Ethics Workshop for PAHO staff Washington DC, November 1-3 2010
Description With the support from WHO-ERC and the WHO Center in Ethics and Global Health Policy, and in coordination with HRM/CW, the Secretariat of PAHOERC organized a research ethics workshop for PAHO staff. The workshop took place in the Hilton Washington DC Rockville in November 1-3 2010. Its objectives were to strengthen the capacity of relevant PAHO staff to identify, understand and analyze ethical issues in research involving humans, and to promote ethical research that adheres to international guidelines and takes into account local contexts. Additionally, the workshop aimed at providing participants with the skills, tools and support necessary to replicate learning experiences in research ethics in their countries. The workshop followed a dialogic and case-based approach. The cases that were used had been developed on the basis of proposals that had been reviewed by PAHOERC. The workshop covered the fundamentals of ethics in research with human participants. Based on the weaknesses in the region as identified by PAHOERC Secretariat when reviewing research proposals, the following topics were be given special attention: social value of research, scientific validity (including study design issues such as use of placebo), responsibilities of researchers towards research participants, and voluntariness and role of communities in the process of informed consent. The workshop included small group discussions and practical activities (such an informed consent clinic and a simulated ERC review) that actively involved participants in the learning process and allowed for a multidirectional learning experience in which researchers, PAHOERC members and focal points benefit from the discussion. Faculty included David Wendler (PhD) and Nicola Barsdorf (MHS, PhD candidate) from the Department of Bioethics at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health; Kenneth Goodman (PhD) from the University of Miami / Ethics Programs; Sergio Litewka (MD, MPH) from the University of Miami / CITI Program – Pan American Bioethics Initiative; Abha Saxena (MD) from WHO Ethics Review Committee Secretariat; and Carla Saenz (PhD) from PAHO Ethics Review Committee Secretariat. Relevant PAHO staff members, such as research focal points, technical officers processing research proposals, and members of PAHOERC, were invited to participate in the workshop, which had originally aimed at 20 participants. Excluding faculty, 36 participants had registered
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