In 1988, Harvard University unveiled plans for Medical Science Partners (MSP), a venture capital fund intended to invest in and commercialize faculty biomedical projects. Critical of what is perceived as a "15 year long trend" wherein Harvard has "forged deeper and more extensive ties with the biomedical industry," the document…

This article (1) examines the overall structure of regulatory research oversight in the United States; (2) details the origins and evolution of federal legislation pertaining to the protection of human subjects in biomedical and behavioral treatment and research; and (3) describes the expansion of oversight regulation from biomedical and…

Written to provide an understanding of the broad base of information on which the artificial intelligence (AI) branch of computer science rests, this publication presents a general view of AI, the concepts from which it evolved, its current abilities, and its promise for research. The focus is on a community of projects that use the SUMEX-AIM…

The national Minority Biomedical Support (MBS) Program, established in 1972 with National Institutes of Health funds, is described with emphasis on its role in increasing minority representation in biomedical research. (LBH)

Conducted at two British universities in 1993, a year-long trial service study of 20 bio-scientists using GRATEFUL MED software access to National Library of Medicine databases, principally MEDLINE, found that the users approved most of the service's ease, convenience, and time saving features and disapproved of its susceptibility to network…

The Association of Academic Health Centers and the Association of American Medical Colleges approved statements on conflicts of interest. University researchers are asked to disclose any significant personal, professional, or financial relationships, and faculty should not let commercially sponsored research interfere with the education of…

Alternative sources and innovative programs are suggested to improve or maintain adequate research support, including hard funding in the institution's operating budget, private gifts, Biomedical Research Support Grants from the National Institutes of Health, and applied research supported by industrial clients. (MSE)

Existing federal government policies and systems to protect against scientific misconduct in government-supported research projects are described, and additional considerations not covered in federal policy are enumerated. Misconduct inquiries and review procedures are outlined. Applicant and institutional responsibility and the role of prevention…

Harvard Watch asserts that withholding essential information from public scrutiny is not uncommon at Harvard University. Maintaining that Harvard has reversed its position from extolling the virtues of public disclosure to one of imposing secrecy, the document suggests that this about face is linked to the university's recent collaboration with…

Clinical trials and access to therapeutic drugs pose dilemmas for researchers, physicians, and AIDS patients. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recognizing the need for greater access to drugs by a broader spectrum of the infected population, is establishing the Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS. (Author/MLW)

This discussion of traditional academic medicine's resistance to changes in practice, technology, and finances looks at three current problems in medical education and two in biomedical research. Solutions are proposed, based on redefinition of the relationship between universities and medical schools and expansion of the conventional narrow focus…

This paper examines the problem of delivering a body of knowledge based on biomedical research as a school physical education discourse. The paper attempts to deconstruct the ideology of healthism upon which the discourse is based in order to show how ascetic practices in school physical education are promoted as a way of combating the hedonistic…

Important new medical findings and advances in heart, lung, and blood research with goals of encouraging practical applications are presented in this supplement to the 12th report of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council. The findings are the result of a 10-year research program directed to the highest identified priorities in…

The effects of evolving federal research policies and programs on nongovernmental academic medical centers are examined. Medical schools, teaching hospitals, and research institutes are included. The major problem of analysis in this report is to sort out the effects of federally-supported biomedical research from other influences on academic…

A Pittsburgh program to encourage physicians to choose clinical investigation careers consists of nine months of formal lectures and laboratory training and 15 months of a supervised laboratory research project. The curriculum ranges from basic laboratory techniques and biomedical content to advanced instrumentation, statistical analysis, computer…