Ethics and Professional Integrity

This course is required of all clinical and basic science postdoctoral trainees in the School of Medicine and Dentistry. The course features 10 sessions consisting of lecture/case study presentations followed by small group discussions that provide information on the various topics that the National Institutes for Health consider essential for the responsible conduct of research. Specific topics include the ethical issues underlying human experimentation and related conflicts of interest, animal experimentation, the mentor-mentee relationship, scientific misconduct and plagiarism, collaborative and team science, and publication/authorship. The course also provides an introduction to approaches for improving rigor and transparency with the goal of enhancing research reproducibility. This is a non-credit bearing course that cannot be applied to any degree program in the School.