The ever-growing and evolving HIV epidemic in both the US and the developing world continues to posenumerous critical ethical and policy issues. These are becoming all the more acute as researchers beginwork in unfamiliar settings and with new populations in the developing world. Further, given the particularvulnerability of people living with or at high risk of HIV, it is especially crucial that HIV-related researchbe conducted according to stringent ethical standards. The Ethics and Policy Core (EPC) will enhancethe Center's ability to address these issues through three overall functions of providing consultation,fostering education, and conducting empirical research on two broad areas: 1) policy issues at multiplelevels- international, national, local, institutional and professional (i.e., including policies in various healthcare institutions and settings), and 2) ethics of research with people who are infected with or at risk forinfection with HIV. The EPC builds on the past work of the HIV Center in ethics and policy and will alsoincorporate new emphases on research ethics and the relationship between policy and economics. TheEPC will consult with Center investigators concerning policy implications and research ethics related totheir work as they conduct research, develop new research initiatives, prepare grants and IRBapplications, analyze findings, and write manuscripts. The EPC will also provide and enhance educationon ethical and policy issues among investigators and trainees in the Center and in broader communitiesthrough seminars, conferences and roundtable discussions, as well as a Program in Applied Ethics fornewer investigators. The Core will also conduct research either through stand-alone studies or by addingstudies of ethical and policy questions onto existing Center research studies. The Core will help identifyethical and policy issues that need to, and can, be studied empirically, and can be pursued by Pis (eitherfrom the Core or the rest of the Center). Thus, the Core will add significantly to the Center as a whole,infusing into the Center critical expertise and activities in these areas that can help expandunderstandings and approaches in policy, research ethics, and numerous other domains within the broadarea of HIV prevention and treatment. Specifically, the Core will enable Center investigators, in key waysthey would not otherwise, develop policy implications of their work, promote the practice andunderstanding of research ethics, examine crucial policy issues using empirical approaches.
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