Research is conducted in a variety of cultural settings. Ethical standards developed in Europe and the Americas are increasingly applied in these settings, many of which are culturally different from the countries in which these standards originated. To overcome these cultural differences, investigators may be tempted to deviate from ethical standards. To suggest that, without such deviations, the contribution of these countries to medical science would be limited, is misguided. The argument that research would be impossible without these deviations, which limit the contribution these countries make to medical sciences, is not accepted. To overcome these challenges, it is important for research administrators, managers and investigators to develop the cultural competence that enables them to establish recruitment and consent procedures consistent with cultural, political, and social practices. This paper presents some of the issues and challenges encountered in conducting research in Egypt. It is hoped that, by sharing these experiences, researchers and research administrators will gain insight into the design, implementation, and management of research in different cultural settings.