Research Ethics Across Domains With Nicholas Proferes, PhD, Sarah Gilbert, PhD, and Kyle Pittman, MPA

In this episode of PRIM&R's podcast, "Research Ethics Reimagined," we explore the ethics of artificial intelligence systems that emulate real people with Alex John London, PhD, the K&L Gates Professor of Ethics and Computational Technologies and co-lead of the K&L Gates Initiative in Ethics and Computational Technologies at Carnegie Mellon University, and Ida Mattsson, a PhD student at CMU. London and Mattsson discuss their co-authored paper on "systems that emulate identifiable individuals," drawing on a case study of voice-based AI designed to assist older adults experiencing cognitive decline. They examine when assistance becomes unjustified paternalism or deception, how responsibility is shared among developers, deployers, and the people being emulated, and why institutional review boards (IRBs) are a limited tool for overseeing technologies of this kind.

In this episode of PRIM&R's podcast, "Research Ethics Reimagined," we learn more about the advances taking place at the Emory National Primate Research Center, recently renamed the Emory National Biomedical Research Center, with Dr. R. Paul Johnson, the center's director and an infectious disease physician-scientist, and Dr. Joyce Cohen, VMD, DACLAM, the veterinarian who oversees the health and welfare of the center's animals. Dr. Johnson traces the center's scientific contributions to HIV/AIDS research and organ transplantation, and Dr. Cohen elaborates on what it takes to build and run a complex animal welfare program. Together, they discuss the growing role of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) alongside nonhuman primate models.

In this episode of “Research Ethics Reimagined,” we speak with Willyanne DeCormier Plosky, DrPH, and Blythe Chen, MPH, of The Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard (MRCT Center) about the evolving legal landscape for clinical trials following the 2022 Dobbs decision, and how varying state laws around reproductive health create new privacy considerations for participants. The guests describe MRCT Center's related research and their Pregnancy Privacy Protections for Participants (P4) Toolkit, a set of resources designed to help researchers and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) improve informed consent language and communicate clearly with participants.

In this episode of PRIM&R’s podcast, “Research Ethics Reimagined,” we explore a model for community-engaged research in Augusta, Georgia that brings together an Institutional Review Board (IRB), researchers, and a trusted community partner. Host Ivy Tillman speaks with a four-guest panel to discuss how the partnership grew from efforts to address research mistrust rooted in the legacy of the Tuskegee study. Together, they examine why researchers must build relationships with communities long before recruitment, and discuss how sustained collaboration can advance the trustworthiness of the research enterprise. Panelists: Malcolm Bevel, PhD; Tiffany Coleman; Bianca Marsh; and Corey Rogers.

In this episode of PRIM&R’s podcast, "Research Ethics Reimagined," we explore the methodology, ethics, and future of public opinion research with David Dutwin, PhD, Executive Director and Senior Vice President of AmeriSpeak at NORC at the University of Chicago. Dr. Dutwin is a senior fellow with the program for opinion research and election studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a nationally recognized survey methodologist. For more than 20 years, he has taught courses in survey research and design, political polling, research methods, rhetorical theory, media effects, and other courses as an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Arizona, and West Chester University. He discusses how probability-based sampling underpins scientifically valid survey research, the safeguards that protect participants in sensitive surveys, and how artificial intelligence is reshaping the field.