Ethical Issues Regarding Women in Health Research

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The use of embryonic tissue for stem cell and genetic research raises numerous controversial ethical questions. However, little information exists about how decisions regarding such research specifically affect those women from whose gametes the embryos were created and their partners and families. This revised application for a Mentored Scientist Development Award in Research Ethics proposes a five-year course of study to investigate the impact of such new research methods on women. Dr. Lyerly completed a Greenwall Fellowship in Bioethics and Heath Policy at Johns Hopkins and Georgetown in 2001 and is now an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Duke University. Based on work she initiated at the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, Dr. Lyerly has begun collecting qualitative data through in-depth interviews on the attitudes of women who have undergone in vitro fertilization regarding potential research on their own cryopreserved embryos. Under the co-mentorship of nationally recognized leaders in research ethics, qualitative methods, and reproductive health, Drs. James Tulsky and Robert Cook-Deegan of Duke University and Dr. Ruth Faden of Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Lyerly proposes to use the observations of these qualitative data to formulate and validate a quantitative survey that will be distributed nationally and assess attitudes of individuals regarding their own cryopreserved embryos. The long-term goal of these studies will be to determine how genetic and stem cell research specifically impacts the women who serve as tissue donors. This is a group whose voice has not yet been introduced into this debate. Dr. Lyerly also proposes a rigorous course of study to further prepare her to be a leader as an empirical researcher in the ethics of reproductive healthcare. She will complete formal research methods training through the Master's program in clinical research at Duke. She will participate as a Faculty Associate at the Center for the Study of Medical Ethics and Humanities and continue work in the Center for Genome Ethics Law and Policy and the Center for Women's Studies. This proposal will support education, teaching and mentored research for the further development of a well-trained bioethicist focused on ethical issues regarding the impact of contemporary and future research on women.