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A Proposal to Implement an Education Program on the Responsible Conduct of Research at New York Medical College
New York Medical College will introduce all new Ph.D. and master's students to ethical issues during new student orientation, using group discussion of case studies. A mandatory workshop on the obligations of maintaining accurate data and laboratory notebooks will be held after the start of the fall term.
A complete course, to be required for all Ph.D. students (optional for master's students), will be developed, addressing the nine instructional areas identified by ORI. A second, more advanced course will be developed as an elective, focusing on the relationship between science and the public good and addressing controversial topical issues such as embryonic stem cell research.
For faculty, a series of discussion sections and lectures will be developed, intended to familiarize them with formal ethical principles, terminology, and tools of analysis. An ongoing “research ethics journal club” will be established for students, faculty, and post-doctoral fellows, offering a monthly venue for discussion of ethical issues. Additionally, an annual “Ethics Day” and a separate “Dean's Lecture,” both to be major campus-wide events, will provide keynote lectures on topics relevant to research ethics.
Additional workshops for Ph.D. students who have taken the required course will keep their awareness of ethical issues alive, as will an online “ethics issue of the month” program, which will invite written analyses of case studies, the best of which will be posted on the research ethics Web site, which will also contain course material, summaries of past events, and links to useful resources. A resource library of books and journals relevant to research ethics will be developed and publicized.
For each of these many initiatives, specific outcome measures will be developed appropriate for their respective objectives. To assist in evaluation, graduate programs will make annual reports to the dean about RCR activities in their departments.
As the national advocate for graduate education, CGS serves as a resource for policymakers and others on issues concerning graduate education, research, and scholarship. Based in Washington, DC, the organization provides its members with regular updates and analyses of legislative and regulatory proposals and policies that affect graduate education.
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