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by Janet Storch, RN, PhD, President of
NCEHR
We are in the midst of a time of
change during which concrete plans for major re-structuring of health
research are being made. By April 1, 2000 the Medical Research Council of
Canada (MRC) will be transformed into the Canadian Institutes for Health
Research (CIHR). Committees have been working intensely over the spring
and summer months to develop designs for changed health research programs
and structures. The Interim Governing Council (IGC) of the CIHR and its
sub-committees, including an ethics sub-committee, have been particularly
hard at work.
The Social Science and Humanities
Council (SSHRC) has also been engaged in providing input into this
planning through calls for Health Institute Design Grant Proposals. These
and other initiatives provide excellent opportunities for SSHRC to
influence and to help re-shape the emphasis and structures of health
research. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Council (NSERC) has been
considering the changes in health research as well.
Irrespective of the source of
recommendations for redesign, or the substantive suggestions about
broadened health research agendas, there continues to be a critical need
to maintain and enhance structures that exist to protect and promote the
well-being of human participants in research, and to foster high ethical
standards for the conduct of research involving human participants.
This is the mission of the National
Council on Ethics in Human Research (NCEHR). It is a mission NCEHR=s 20
Council members and staff are capable and committed to fulfilling. To meet
the many existing and emerging needs in fulfilling this dual mission in
medical and health research, and in all research involving human
participants, NCEHR=s relationships will need to be clarified and NCEHR=s
resource needs must be addressed. Greater independence and enhanced
resources will be essential to assisting research ethics boards,
researchers, and organizations that fund research to adequately protect
the public.
NCEHR welcomes this as a unique
opportunity to improve the protection of human participants in research.
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