Professor Osagie Obasogie discusses recent efforts to expand the use of prisoners in behavioral and biomedical research.

Tuskegee (black sharecroppers), Fernald (orphans), and Willowbrook (developmentally disabled children) are infamous examples of how medical researchers exploited vulnerable populations. Prisoners were the human subjects of choice for much of the 20th century. It wasn’t until prison research abuses were exposed in the 1970s that federal law was amended to restrict the use of prisoners in scientific research.

So why is the prestigious Institute of Medicine now recommending that the Department of Health and Human Services loosen these restrictions? Who benefits? Have the deplorable prison conditions that led to past abuses improved enough over the past few decades to now make such research ethical?

Professor Obasogie will talk about what this means for the evolving relationship between law, science, and ethics.

One hour MCLE credit available.

Special thanks to Stephen McKae '75 and his firm for sponsoring this event.

Please RSVP by emailing the Alumni Center or calling 415.565.4667.