by Elisa Hurley, PhD, Education Director
Elyn R. Saks’ 2007 memoir, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness is not an easy book to read. In it, Saks, a distinguished law professor at the University of Southern California, paints a vivid, terrifying, and very human portrait of a life lived with schizophrenia.
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Concerns Over Coercion and Undue Influence are Slowing the Pace of Valuable Clinical Research
Tags:by Emily A. Largent and Alan Wertheimer, PhD
In a recent post, we presented some of the key results from a 2010 survey we conducted with randomly selected PRIM&R members. As described in our article in IRB: Ethics and Human Research, “Money, Coercion, and Undue Inducement: Attitudes about Payments to Research Participants,” the survey explored their attitudes as to whether and why payment of research participants constitutes coercion or undue influence. We were interested in asking these questions because institutional review board (IRB) members are crucial gatekeepers in [...] Read more
Feeling Around the Edges of Cultural Competence Through Performance and Discussion
Tags:by Catherine Rogers, Marketing and Communication Design Manager
For researchers, understanding cultural competence means more than just knowing about historical and current contexts. It means putting down the clipboard, taking off the lab coat, and connecting with others through thoughtful, respectful exchanges.
As demonstrated recently through two one-act plays at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA, the edges of cultural competence can [...] Read more

by Amal Matar, 2010 Pillars of PRIM&R Award Recipient
As a relatively young, Middle Eastern woman, who has only taken baby steps in the field of research ethics, I was surprised to be named the 2010 Pillars of PRIM&R Award recipient. The award involved presenting my research to almost 2,500 attendees at PRIM&R’s 2011 Advancing Ethical Research (AER) Conference. Participants came from all over the United States, but there were more than 100 individuals from the developing world.<[...] Read more
Professionals engaged in the protection of human and animal subjects felt the tides of change in 2011: The Department of Health and Human Services proposed an overhaul to the regulations governing human subjects protections. Across the country, people provided feedback and comments on the proposed change; the animal care and use community reacted when the National Institutes [...] Read more