| Abstract: | Principles of integrity and ethical practice in research have been reinforced and honed over decades. In medical and biomedical fields, they have been shaped by challenges that include endemic, emerging, and re-emerging diseases [1], as well as the scientific responses to each disease as it occurs. These responses include clinical and community prevention trials, vaccine and drug trials for persons with life-threatening diseases, applied and basic research with dangerous microbial agents, and many others. Unexpected fatal pandemics caused by novel agents—for which neither drugs nor vaccines exist— present additional urgent challenges for scientists, defined here to mean biomedical, medical, and public health scientists and practitioners. In addition to conducting research, scientists are also often tasked with communicating research findings, not only to those who make policy decisions, but also to the media and the public. |
