The Berman Institute’s faculty coordinate or direct a number of international research and training efforts, including:

 

This research project involves the collection of preliminary data on ancillary care practices and decision-making from public health researchers in three South Asian countries. As public health research is often conducted in settings where adequate nutrition, clean water, and sanitation are lacking and access to health care services is limited, some participants in public health research suffer illness and death from medical conditions beyond the condition being studied. The Berman Institute’s Maria Merritt and Holly Taylor are determined to learn more about these ancillary care practices. Research began in 2007.

 

This project explores how research is integrated into policy development in developing countries, with a special focus on determining values and preferences of policy makers. The principal investigator for this project is the Berman Institute's Adnan Hyder.

 

The HeartSongs Project: An International Collaboration to Enhance Communication, Decision-Making and Quality of Life for Children and Families Affected by Pediatric Neuromuscular Diseases
Drs. Gail Geller and Cynda Rushton co-direct the Heartsongs Project, funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. The goal of this two-year project is to develop a worldwide network of professionals, parents and affected children who share a common vision of comprehensive and integrated care for children with life-threatening neuromuscular diseases. With a focus on communication, decision making, quality of life and ethical challenges, the project brings together experts in pediatric palliative care, pediatric neuromuscular diseases, and parents and affected children. The project will develop recommendations regarding best practices in comprehensive and integrated care. Current plans include a opening summit in England in April 2008, followed by a year of effort by conference participants in smaller working groups. The project will culminate in a second summit to be held in Greece in April 2009. Nearly 70 people from 10 countries will be invited to serve as “ambassadors” of their home countries. "Ambassadorial teams” will network with other colleagues in their respective countries to involve them in the project's work. The 2009 summit will allow the working groups to report their findings for a comprehensive set of recommendations. This project is in honor of Mattie J.T. Stepanek.

 

Sponsored by The Rockefeller Foundation, the Bellagio Meeting brought together an international group of experts in public health, animal health, virology, medicine, public policy, economics, bioethics, law and human rights to consider the most pressing social justice questions surrounding the avian and human pandemic influenza threat. July 2006 meeting participants focused on the needs and interests of the world's most disadvantaged people. Since the meeting, the group has been working to distribute and implement the Bellagio Meeting Statement of Principles and various action checklists derived from the meeting. For more information, contact Kiran Khaira.

 

 

 

Together with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Department of Clinical Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Berman Institute runs a one-year training program in research ethics for scientists and professionals from sub-Saharan Africa. The training program is directed by Nancy Kass and Adnan Hyder. Nearly two dozen African trainees have participated in the program since 2000. For more information, contact Joe Ali.

 

Fogarty International Collaborative Genetics Research Training Program
Since 2004, Gail Geller has been co-director of a Fogarty International Center training grant to train Chinese scientists in genetics. Dr. Geller is responsible for the ethical, social, psychological, and cultural components of the training. In this capacity, she mentors Chinese fellows brought to Johns Hopkins and participates in an annual week-long training course in Beijing. In recognition of her contribution to the ethics training of China's future geneticists, Dr. Geller was recently awarded an honorary professorship at Peking University.

 

In 2007, faculty affiliated with the Berman Institute were approved for a grant entitled “Capacity Building in Research Ethics and for Research on Ethics.” The grant allows for a new research ethics exchange program between Aga Khan University (AKU) in Pakistan and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland. Grant activities focus on conducting six research ethics certificate courses, which in the aggregate will train approximately 120 researchers and institutional ethics review committee members from all over Pakistan. The grant will also sponsor the selection of two AKU faculty per year to receive research ethics fellowships for advanced training in empirical research methods for researching ethics. Fellows travel to Johns Hopkins for a one-month period of intensive training, culminating in a research proposal. The co-directors for this project are Lynne Harris and the Berman Institute’s Adnan Hyder.

 

In Pakistan, Berman Institute faculty work on trauma and injury research and training through a special program with the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health and Aga Khan University. The project also helps researchers and clinicians address the social and ethical issues of injury research. For more information, contact Adnan Hyder.

 

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