Ellen Wright Clayton, M.D.
Ethics in research focus of international symposium
Elizabeth Heitman, Ph.D.
Elizabeth Heitman, Ph.D., and Ellen Wright Clayton, M.D., recently returned from the first International Symposium in Bioethics in San José, Costa Rica.
The event was held in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the country's first Bioethics and Research Committee, or institutional review board (IRB). Heitman and Clayton were invited speakers on ethics in research, with Clayton speaking specifically on research with children and direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals and genetic testing, and Heitman speaking on ethical issues in epidemiologic research and the ethics of community-based research.
Heitman and Clayton were invited to speak at the event by Abdon Castro, M.D., head of pediatric cardiology for the National Children's Hospital of Costa Rica, during his visit to Vanderbilt last September.
The symposium was held at the National Children's Hospital of Costa Rica, a medical center that Heitman noted had “very impressive facilities, with high quality services and a high level of staff expertise.” Heitman and Clayton were both struck with the similarity of patients' medical needs and the parallel services offered at the National Children's Hospital and the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. The symposium reflected the similarity of the ethical issues that the medical centers face in conducting research.
Heitman, associate professor Medicine in the Center for Clinical and Research Ethics, specializes in the ethical, cultural, and religious aspects of medicine and biomedical research. Clayton, Rosalind E. Franklin Professor and director of the Center for Genetics and Health Policy, is known for her work in the intersecting areas of law, medicine, and public health, particularly related to pediatrics and genetics. Together they are working with the Vanderbilt Center for the Americas and faculty from across the university to understand the ethics of research with indigenous populations throughout the Americas.
Both feel that their participation in this symposium reflects VUMC's growing presence in the international medical community, and anticipate future collaboration between VUMC and the National Children's Hospital of Costa Rica. According to Heitman, “the Center for Clinical and Research Ethics and the Center for Genetics and Health Policy, which are merging later this summer, are committed to addressing international issues in ethics in medical treatment and research and to establishing working relationships with other institutions in this field.”