Responsible Conduct of Research for Advanced Trainees

Catalog description

The life of a professional scientist is complicated, and it is not always easy to know how to "do the right thing" with regard to their data, colleagues, and subjects. Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) is an essential component of research knowledge. Active thought about the issues of RCR should occur throughout a scientist's career. Instruction in RCR should be appropriate to the career stage of the individuals receiving training. All doctoral students in the School of Medicine receive initial RCR training in their second semester and NIH requires another intense exposure if doctoral students are four years beyond their initial training. The goal of this course is to provide fifth year biomedical doctoral students with additional RCR training by exposing them to a variety of research ethics topics through lectures and small group discussions led by professional scientists and ethicists. Students will be brought up to date on the current state of professional policy and federal regulation regarding research (where these exist), and will discuss practical strategies for preventing and resolving ethical problems in their own work. This course is designed for predoctoral graduate students that are in their fifth year of graduate studies and MSTP students that are in their fourth year of their PhD phase of study. These sessions are also appropriate for postdoctoral trainees.