Let freedom ring!

Posted by Joan Rachlin, executive director

Although most Americans know that the Fourth of July commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and while many of us still remember at least some of those first few lines, how many of us have actually read it lately? I certainly had not, and so as our nation prepares to celebrate its 233rd Independence Day, I Googled this extraordinary document and, after reading it, was filled with renewed awe, inspiration, and gratitude.

Beyond the barbeques, parades, and fireworks, though, I began to wonder what this holiday—and freedom in general—has come to mean to us 21st century Americans. What, for example, does "freedom" mean to you? I was brought up on Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" speech, and have read over the years about the distinction between freedom to do something and freedom from doing something. FDR's four freedoms were freedom of speech, freedom to worship as one chooses, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

British political philosopher Isaiah Berlin called “freedom from…” a negative liberty and “freedom to…” a positive liberty. He explained the distinction as follows:

Negative liberty is the absence of obstacles, barriers or constraints…Positive liberty is the possibility of acting—or the fact of acting—in such a way as to take control of one's life and realize one's fundamental purposes.

Some theorists have noted that "freedom from" something reflects the concept of "non-coercion." As such, the roots of research ethics go back to at least 1941 and FDR's famous speech. But there's also the freedom "to," for example, the freedom to participate in research. Your job is to ensure minimal conflict between those two freedoms through upholding ethical principles and the vigilance that you and your colleagues provide daily. Thank you for preserving and balancing those freedoms!

I also began to wonder whether there was anything particularly notable about our country's celebration of July 4th, 1974, the year of PRIM&R's incorporation. It turns out that there was a famous re-enactment of the Frederick Douglass speech, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, that day. Douglass spoke painful, but necessary, truths to his white Buffalo audience, and his candor and eloquence was rewarded with a sustained standing ovation.

Douglass was certainly an "upstander," not only on July 4, 1852, but throughout his life. Upstanders remind us that it only takes one person, or a small group of people, to bring significant change, just as Douglass did. Those interested in learning about modern-day upstanders can look here...

Enough of the serious stuff, as it's almost time to fire up the grill and head out for the fireworks! Whatever your plans include, here's to a healthy, safe, pleasant, and restful July 4, circa 2009 for all of you.

Obamarama!

Thanks to the generosity of Dr. Steve Niemi, PRIM&R Board member and director of the Center for Comparative Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, we welcomed the U.S. President and First Lady—in cardboard cut-out form—to our offices yesterday. Although their visit was brief, the PRIM&R paparazzi was able to snap a few photos of the staff posing with the couple. Enjoy!

Clockwise, from top left, is Executive Director Joan Rachlin and Dr. Niemi; Jen Levine-Fried, membership specialist; and Joanna Cardinal, membership manager.

Don't forget - Become a part of PRIM&R's pod in June!

PRIM&R is thrilled to be celebrating 35 years of advancing ethical research! In honor of this milestone, those who join the organization in June will be entered into a drawing for a $100 American Express Gift Card. But there are other reasons to join PRIM&R’s “pod”! PRIM&R membership will help you to:

1. Do more with less.
   PRIM&R members receive discounts on PRIM&R educational programs, including conferences, regional programs, and webinars.
2. Stay informed.
   Our monthly e-Newsletter and bi-monthly Research Ethics Digest (RED) will keep you up to date on all the latest news and research in the field.
3. Expand your knowledge.
   View more than 130 presentations from seven of PRIM&R’s world-renowned conferences from your own desktop with PRIM&R On Demand. Peruse members-only online resources, such as best practices, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and recent headlines.
4. Advance your career.
   Take the CIP or CPIA exam at a discount.
5. Get connected.
   Find colleagues in your neighborhood using PRIM&R’s online membership directory. Build a relationship with a fellow member and get the answers you need through PRIM&R’s Mentoring Program. Share ideas, best practices, and information with peers through PRIM&R’s Online Communities.Build a local community and network of resources by hosting a PRIM&R Regional Connections event.

Join us today! You can join online, or by completing and returning a membership application. If you’d like more information about membership, please contact our membership team.

Season of celebrations

Posted by Joan Rachlin, executive director

It’s always a glorious occasion when we celebrate someone who has played a significant role in PRIM&R’s history. One such individual is Robert Levine, who has been a staple on our Board of Directors, in our program planning process, and at our podium for more than 30 years.

Bob is one of the most recognized and respected teachers, writers, and thinkers in the research ethics field, and it was thus fitting that he should be honored by Yale University, his academic home for over 40 years. The Center for Bioethics at Yale organized a lecture, dinner, and seminar in Bob’s honor June 8-9, and I was fortunate to be among those “feting” him.

The lecture was given by Tom Beauchamp of Georgetown University, another giant in bioethics, and focused on the Belmont Report, of which Tom was one of the drafters. His talk was a thoughtful, candid, and elegant recounting of the philosophical and ethical underpinnings of Belmont.

Tom posed the broader question as to whether there should be a “Belmont II,” and, if so, what it would look like. For example, some have cited “Belmont I” as being too protectionist and not representative enough. (Among other things, there is no explicit role for research subjects.) Tom indicated that he did not favor a “Belmont II,” although he did note that there was likely to be another national bioethics commission, and that it might take up some of the same issues the Belmont drafters raised. He felt, though, that any such commission’s first task was likely to be stem cells.

Another area at which a future bioethics body might look is the advisability of giving a more formal role to the community, but Tom stated that he did not favor such a process; his opposition originates from his concern that community consultation would dilute, or otherwise compromise, the primacy of an individual subject’s right to consent to participation in research.

Many of Tom’s comments loudly and strongly resonated given the fact that we are putting the finishing touches on PRIM&R’s 2009 Advancing Ethical Research Conference, November 14-16, 2009 (pre-conference programs will be held on November 13), coincidentally titled “Navigating the Future Using the Belmont Compass.” Tom’s powerful talk acknowledged that many cite Belmont as being too abstract to provide a sufficiently practical guiding force for those working in today’s highly complex research environment. He opined that Belmont has been “more revered than understood, studied, or practiced,” and noted that Belmont needs constant tending to and updating, as it is a evolving document and a “work in progress.”

What could be a better segue into my thanking our November conference planning committees for their vision and leadership in creating a program that will give all of us a chance to provide Belmont with the collective “tending to and updating” it deserves?

Bob sits on one of the planning committees and is one of the visionaries, and this posting ends as it begins, with warm felicitations to him for a brilliant and purpose-filled career-to-date.

Organizations Earn AAHRPP Accreditation

The following is press release issued on June 18 by Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP)

13 Organizations Earn AAHRPP Accreditation
The Universities of Texas and California add Organizations

Washington, D.C., June 18, 2009—Thirteen new Organizations earned accreditation from the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) a week ago, including two that joined others from their university systems.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio are joining the University of Texas at Austin as newly Accredited Organizations. And the University of California, Los Angeles, joins three others in the University of California System—Irvine, San Francisco, and Riverside—on the accredited roster as well.

In addition, one major teaching hospital and another independent children’s hospital joined the ranks of Organizations like theirs at AAHRPP, which has now accredited 188 Organizations with more than 900 entities.

The Organizations, all awarded Full Accreditation, are:

• Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA
• G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VAMC, Jackson, MS
• Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center – Shreveport, Shreveport, LA
• Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH
• Overton Brooks VA Medical Center, Shreveport, LA
• South Texas Veterans Health Care System, San Antonio, TX
• Southeast Louisiana Veterans Healthcare System, New Orleans, LA
• Syracuse VA Medical Center, Syracuse, NY
• The University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO
• The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX
• The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
• University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
• VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System, Denver, CO

AAHRPP is a non-profit organization that works with Organizations that conduct human research to raise the level of protection for research participants. AAHRPP accredits Organizations that can demonstrate they provide participant safeguards that surpass the threshold of state and federal requirements. The accreditation program utilizes a voluntary, peer-driven educational model. For organizations interested in learning more about accreditation, visit http://www.aahrpp.org/.

Through the rigorous accreditation process, Organizations must demonstrate that they have built extensive safeguards into every level of their research operation and that they adhere to the highest standards for research. AAHRPP’s standards exceed federal regulations by requiring Organizations to address conflict of interest, to provide community outreach and education and to apply the same stringent protections to all research involving human participants. (Under federal regulations, such protections are mandated only for federally sponsored or regulated research.) The accreditation process typically results in system-wide improvements that enhance protections for research participants and promote high-quality research.

Accreditation is available to Organizations worldwide that conduct biomedical, behavioral or social sciences research involving human participants. Decisions on accreditation are announced quarterly, and accreditation is valid for three years.

OBOS Endorses Single Payer Healthcare

Our Bodies Ourselves' executive director, Judy Norsigian, has been a longstanding member of PRIM&R's Board of Directors. We felt the following press release might be of interest to our readers.

Our Bodies Ourselves Endorses Single Payer Healthcare
Single-Payer Models Are the Best Option for Women, Says OBOS Executive Director Judy Norsigian

06.15.2009 – Boston – Our Bodies Ourselves today endorsed the single-payer healthcare model as the most effective approach for solving the United States' health and medical care crisis.

In a comprehensive position paper, the nonprofit women's health organization argues that a single-payer model is best positioned to control costs and to reduce financial incentives that have led to both inadequate and excessive medical treatment.

Our Bodies Ourselves outlines exactly what women stand to gain from a single-payer system. The benefits are also the subject of an op-ed published Monday, June 15, in the Boston Globe, co-written by Judy Norsigian, OBOS executive director, and Jennifer Potter, MD, director of the Women's Health Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and director of Women's Health at Fenway Health.

"The only national plan for healthcare reform that explicitly includes women's reproductive health services, including abortion, is one sponsored by Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat," they write. "Other sponsors of single-payer plans are also amenable to including women's reproductive health services."

Lee is expected to re-introduce H.R. 3000, the United States Universal Health Service Act, this legislative session.

More than 10 benefits for women are discussed in detail in the position paper. Among them:

• Coverage is independent from employment.


• Coverage is independent from marriage.


• Single-payer system would encourage better care for chronic illnesses.


• Single-payer system would eliminate the need for Medicaid.


• Single-payer system would address the cost issues that send women into debt and bankruptcy.

Advocating for single payer is an uphill battle, but not a losing cause, said Norsigian, citing the current organizing efforts around single payer that are drawing congressional and media attention.

"Our efforts could also assist those now seeking to strengthen so-called public health insurance options designed to compete with private insurance companies," said Norsigian. "Though such government-sponsored health care plans are likely doomed to fail, they may ultimately be the only compromise solutions that could succeed in Congress."

The American Medical Association, which President Obama addressed on Monday, objects to a shift away from private insurance coverage, but Norsigian said that's to be expected.

"The AMA now represents fewer than 25 percent of all doctors, about 250,000. Although some doctors, mostly specialists, will have greater income under a private insurance system, most doctors view a single-payer solution as the best approach to health care reform. In fact, the second largest physician group, the American College of Physicians, which represents about 126,000 doctors, is on record in support of single payer," said Norsigian.

Polls indicate that a substantial majority of Americans would support a universal health insurance system based on Medicare. For example, a 2007 AP-Yahoo poll found 65 percent of respondents agreed with this statement: "The United States should adopt a universal health insurance program in which everyone is covered under a program like Medicare that is run by the government and financed by taxpayers."

"That this option has been so categorically rejected or ignored by most legislators in Washington, when the majority of the public clearly supports this approach, is reflective of a weakened democratic process that should be great cause for concern," said Norsigian. "Single payer is the best option for women and the best option for this country."

Just launched: PRIM&R’s new Career Center!

A lot of PRIM&R’s online initiatives have evolved over time, and our job board—now known as the Career Center—is no exception.

This self-service, one-stop shop allows employers to search a resume database, and lets job seekers create a profile containing their resume information. PRIM&R’s new alliance with the National Healthcare Career Network also grants access to job boards from more than 155 top healthcare associations, as well as 7,000-plus resumes from job seekers.

In times like these, efficiency is key. Whether you’re filling a vacancy or finding a job, the Career Center, in conjunction with the NHCN, targets highly qualified candidates or pinpoint the job that’s right for you. Check it out today! And be sure to bookmark http://careers.primr.org so that the newest applicants and the latest openings are never far from your fingertips.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact Anne Meade.