St. Jude, El Salvador Create Research Ethics Committee

The establishment of
research ethics committees (REC) in El Salvador will enhance the ability of
that country to undertake clinical trials that improve cure rates of
pediatric catastrophic diseases, according to investigators from St. Jude
Children's Research Hospital who helped to establish the committees.



The new programs not only ensure rigorous ethical oversight of research
involving human participants, but also serve as a model for other
institutions in high-income countries to create or strengthen existing RECs
in low-income countries, the investigators said. A report on the
establishment of these RECs in El Salvador appears in the December issue of
Lancet Oncology.



The establishment of the REC in El Salvador is important because
investigators in low-income countries often have little or no access to
such groups, said Miguela A. Caniza, M.D., assistant member of the St. Jude
Infectious Diseases Department and director of its Infectious Diseases
International Outreach Program. Yet research institutions in high-income
countries require that a REC be part of any such collaboration, she noted.



"The absence of a REC either restricts or prevents just the
collaboration needed to improve medical care in countries with limited
resources," Caniza explained. She is lead author of the report.



Other authors include Scott C. Howard and Raymond C. Barfield (St.
Jude); Wilfrido Clara and Gabriela Maron (Hospital Bloom); Jose Ernesto
Navarro-Marin (Ministry of Health and Social Assistance, El Salvador);
Roberto Rivera (Family Health International, Research Triangle Park, N.C.);
and Jonathan Camp (Center for the Study of Rhetoric and Applied
Communication FedEx; University of Memphis, Tenn.).



This work was supported in part by ALSAC.



St. Jude Children's Research Hospital



St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is internationally recognized for
its pioneering work in finding cures and saving children with cancer and
other catastrophic diseases. Founded by late entertainer Danny Thomas and
based in Memphis, Tenn., St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with
scientific and medical communities around the world. No family ever pays
for treatments not covered by insurance, and families without insurance are
never asked to pay. St. Jude is financially supported by ALSAC, its
fund-raising organization. For more information, please visit
stjude.


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