Expert in Human Subjects Research to Speak at UB

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Robert J. Levine, M.D., one of the most influential and respected figures in the field of medical ethics as it relates to research involving human subjects, will visit the University at Buffalo next month as the inaugural speaker in the UB Human Research Protection Program Distinguished Speakers Series.

Levine, professor of medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine and co-director of Yale's Interdisciplinary Bioethics Center, will speak at 4 p.m. Oct. 2 in Butler Auditorium in Farber Hall on the UB South (Main Street) Campus. His lecture, sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research, is entitled "The Ethics of Research Involving Human Subjects." It will be free and open to the public.

Levine is a co-author of "Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research." The document, which was commissioned by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, serves as the ethical foundation of the human subjects protection field. He also authored the book "Ethics and Regulation of Clinical Research."

He is the founding editor of the journal IRB: A Review of Human Subjects Research and currently chairs its editorial board. A fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Levine has balanced his scholarly interests with their practical application through his years of service as chair of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) responsible for reviewing and approving human subject research at Yale-New Haven Medical Center.

In recognition of his lifelong contributions to research ethics and the protection of human research subjects, Levine received the Outstanding Achievement Medal from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Human Research Protection in 2004, the Lifetime Award for Excellence in Human Research Protection from the Health Improvement Institute in 2004 and the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Research Ethics from the organization Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research in 2005.

Levine's visit to Buffalo is co-sponsored by the Research Subject Protection Office at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. He will repeat his lecture at 8 a.m. Oct. 3 in the David C. Hohn M.D. Lecture Hall in the Research Studies Center at RPCI.

For further information about Levine's presentation, contact Ed Zablocki at 645-3321, or at zablocki@research.buffalo.edu