About

We need to educate our fellows as researchers; we must train them to be researchers. These courses are one of the best ways to achieve it. How to start a new research work, how to achieve a proper research? There are special rules in particular concerning research involving human subjects. We must take good care of them and give due attention to all relevant ethical issues. The aim of this course is to teach these topics. We are conducting this workshop together with well-trained and experienced school; Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard University Medical School and School of Public Health are one of the most distinguished institutions in the USA. We have also worked in close collaboration with the Health Directorate of Istanbul from the very beginning of this program.

Our principal emphasis in the first three years was teaching research methods
training; with the establishment of the NIH funded research bioethics program
we have now added very important value in terms of teaching and integrating bioethics in the program, a unique approach indeed for Turkey and for the Newly Independent States (NIS) region. We consider research methods and research ethics as the “basic disciplines” that are indispensably linked to each other in the practice of epidemiological and clinical studies involving human subjects. This program represents not only a “seed”, but also a process of nurturance of development of research career. We do not just help planting a seed; we need to make sure that it can develop over time. We need to ensure that our appropriate trainees receive the requisite research education and protections from ethical pitfalls and undue interference in their career prospects. This program can serve as a “flagship” and presents a model for good science.

We want to become a school of medicine that applies this feature in Turkey and the neighboring countries in our own region. We present a new chance for those fellows who want to do further work on scientific research involving human subjects.Here we try to create a positive atmosphere, actually an environment that has to be provided wherever science exists. In order to have science exist individuals need to be in a high, a happy mood and they need to view all persons (irrespective of their situation) and life positively. In fact this is a 300 year old tradition of the Enlightenment. This is just what we are trying to create here. I observed this in our participants; I believe this is really what affects our participants the most.

Research enterprise is rapid developing and active field globally. We need to promote research ethics education to help our researchers, institutions, research ethics committees, as well as administrators, to evaluate the ethical basis of scientific studies involving human subjects. Our trainees need to learn about the existing system of research regulation and the innovations of newly proposed regulations that can help clarify the obstacles and opportunities. Research ethics should be as fast as the research enterprise on improvement. There is no formal training or certification expressed in the regulation for membership of research ethics committees. This program can help enlighten trainees in research methods ethics in health sciences.

They were a highly capable and enthusiastic group of participants. This
was also a very good opportunity for me to learn new things. I’m impressed very much by the class. Many of the fellows were very perceptive. I knew they were clear minded. They followed each and every step of the presentations. Therefore it was a great pleasure to speak to them..

This is my third year on this course. The standard of students has always been of a high level, especially managing to think quickly and being very objective. So it is easy to get together in conversations and discussions. I think what they managed here has been serving and delivering the course to intelligent and talented students.

Nowadays research is becoming much more global. I think if they want to do clinical research as young scientists, this is a wonderful way to begin talking with others not only in Turkey and the surrounding countries, but also in US, or for that matter any other place where research takes place. As in our field the only way you can learn is to be collaborative. It is good to collaborate with the people of US and Turkey, and within the country as well. And I think the goal is not only to keep the course in Turkey, but also to collaborate with others.

I believe that this program is an essential for the clinical researchers, physicians, administrators and students. It can be also very useful for the professionals who are in law business.  The importance of the scientific writing part of the course needs to be underscored since it gives quite good mannerism when writing an indexed journal article.

This program helps to increase the research capacity in the region by focusing on research methodology, ethics and funding opportunities as well as information about grant application. I believe the program provides an invaluable training experience for the participants to improve their skills by hands on learning experience and interacting with internationally recognized scholars.