INTRODUCTION
COURSE NUMBER: G4010
DIRECTOR: Dr. Richard Kessin, Professor, Department of Pathology and Cell Biology
CO-DIRECTOR: Dr. Jaime S. Rubin, Director of Research Development, Department of Medicine
This course explores a variety of ethical and policy issues that arise during the conduct of basic, translational, and clinical research. Our philosophy is to have students engage with Columbia faculty members who have had long experience with the ethical questions that pervade science and can speak from their own experiences. Our lecturers include historians, members of our Institutional Review Boards, the director of our animal care facilities and administrators who are involved with these issues. Our goal is not to preach but to provide students and young researchers with practical advice. We draw heavily on lessons from the past.
We discuss all topics required by the National Institutes of Health including: (1) research misconduct; (2) recurring ethical issues faced by biomedical scientists; (3) the use of laboratory animals; (4) human research participants; (5) authorship practices in scientific publications; (6) conflicts of interest arising from scientists acting as policy consultants and experts; (7) data sharing and data secrecy; (8) mentoring; (9) research with stem cells, and (10) the role of scientist in society. Course sessions include lectures, discussion periods, and case studies.
Graduate level - Course number: G4010, Call number: 86096, given yearly in the Spring term; One point/credit; Pass/Fail - grade determined by attendance, class participation, and a required essay. There are eleven 1-hour sessions per term. G4011 (call number: 87297) is the course number for the Integrated Program and Department of Pharmacology's discussion group and is required for members of those programs. It is student led and takes place in the spring term. See Dr. Kessin.
Note: This course attracts a significant number of participants from diverse educational and research training programs. Directors of pre-doctoral and post-doctoral training programs may wish to augment this course with additional requirements, including small group discussion sessions involving individual program faculty. Resource material (e.g. reference texts, case studies) for such sessions may be obtained from the course directors or will be distributed through Courseworks). Faculty, post-doctorate fellows/scientists, staff, and students not wishing to register are welcome to audit the course.
LOCATION AND TIME: All sessions (except for April 12, 2013) are held in the P&S building, 1st floor Amphitheater, on the Medical Center Campus of Columbia University, on Fridays 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m.