A Training Program in Research Ethics in the Americas

This is a training program in international research ethics with the aim of contributing to capacity building in research ethics in Latin America and fostering ongoing collaborations in the Americas. The proposed program is designed as a full collaboration between the Program Director and Co-director at two sites: New York City and Buenos Aires, Argentina. As a fully collaborative effort, this program seeks to become a model for other training programs, as well as to exemplify today's emphasis on equal partnership, rejecting past models of industrialized countries' dominance in international collaborative research. The Program Director, Dr. Ruth Macklin, and the Co-director, Dr. Florencia Luna, propose a program that they will jointly plan and conduct, with faculty drawn from Latin America and the United States. Trainees will spend the first half year of the program in New York and the second half in Buenos Aires. They will enroll in required seminars in research ethics at both sites, have a variety of Masters-level elective courses open to them, attend meetings of research ethics committees, and design and carry out a mentored research project. Trainees will be required to develop a plan for introducing research ethics into the institution to which they will return. Follow up will begin with a tracking mechanism for trainees at the end of their training year, and the program will establish a network in research ethics in Latin America. This will provide continued support for trainees once they return to their home institutions. The Program Director and Co-director are bilingual in English and Spanish, and trainees will also have to be fluent in both languages. Trainees will be recruited from throughout Latin America, with the assistance of an Advisory Committee. Guest faculty and consultants have been selected chiefly from the two training sites, and others have also been recruited from additional countries in South America. If the project succeeds in attracting trainees from throughout Latin America, it should provide a critical mass for ongoing developments to expand capacity in research ethics throughout the region.