"Ethics in Epidemiology: Focus on Research Integrity" 

Dr. Ken Goodman (University of Miami) and Dr. Jim Enstrom (UCLA) of the Ethics Committee will moderate a luncheon discussion about the issues of ethical conduct and research integrity in epidemiology. In recent years these issues have impacted certain areas of epidemiology, particularly those areas involving weak environmental risk factors that have regulatory implications. These issues seriously challenge the viability of epidemiology as a legitimate scientific endeavor. Problem areas include: influence of funding source on research results, misrepresentation and omission of published results, publication bias against particular results, attempts to "silence" lines of scientific inquiry, failure to share underlying databases, inability to replicate key results, failure to follow accepted epidemiologic standards of practice, and ad hominem attacks on investigators. Specific examples involving air pollution epidemiology will cited by the moderators, but the discussion will include those areas of epidemiology of concern to the luncheon participants.