Ethics and Policy Core

The ever-growing and evolving HIV epidemic in both the US and the developing world continues to pose numerous critical ethical and policy issues. These are becoming all the more acute as researchers begin work in unfamiliar settings and with new populations in the developing world. Further, given the particular vulnerability of people living with or at high risk of HIV, it is especially crucial that HIV-related research be conducted according to stringent ethical standards. The Ethics and Policy Core (EPC) will enhance the Center's ability to address these issues through three overall functions of providing consultation, fostering education, and conducting empirical research on two broad areas: 1) policy issues at multiple levels- international, national, local, institutional and professional (i.e., including policies in various health care institutions and settings), and 2) ethics of research with people who are infected with or at risk for infection with HIV. The EPC builds on the past work of the HIV Center in ethics and policy and will also incorporate new emphases on research ethics and the relationship between policy and economics. The EPC will consult with Center investigators concerning policy implications and research ethics related to their work as they conduct research, develop new research initiatives, prepare grants and IRB applications, analyze findings, and write manuscripts. The EPC will also provide and enhance education on ethical and policy issues among investigators and trainees in the Center and in broader communities through seminars, conferences and roundtable discussions, as well as a Program in Applied Ethics for newer investigators. The Core will also conduct research either through stand-alone studies or by adding studies of ethical and policy questions onto existing Center research studies. The Core will help identify ethical and policy issues that need to, and can, be studied empirically, and can be pursued by Pis (either from the Core or the rest of the Center). Thus, the Core will add significantly to the Center as a whole, infusing into the Center critical expertise and activities in these areas that can help expand understandings and approaches in policy, research ethics, and numerous other domains within the broad area of HIV prevention and treatment. Specifically, the Core will enable Center investigators, in key ways they would not otherwise, develop policy implications of their work, promote the practice and understanding of research ethics, examine crucial policy issues using empirical approaches.