Senior Research Scholar Tom Beauchamp, along with a small group of scholars at Johns Hopkins University, recently received a Challenge Grant as part of the stimulus package passed by Congress in 2009. This team will work on the conceptual, moral, and policy dimensions of the distinction between research and treatment. Upon the project’s completion, a report will be made to federal authorities on the state of current federal requirements governing human-subjects research and the need to revise them.

This work has the potential to significantly alter the way we understand the difference between clinical research using human subjects, and clinical practice in which innovative treatments are used with patients. This work will advance Dr. Beauchamp’s interest in federal requirements for the review of research protocols and his continued advocacy for needed revisions in the system.