Advocacy and Community: Conflicts of Interest in Public Health Research

Abstract

The players in modern biomedical and public health research are entwined in new and complicated ways. As industry established cooperative research efforts with clinicians and other scientific investigators, the financial influence of these arrangements on the ethical conduct of research has received increased scrutiny. Though many have regarded the cooperation of patient advocacy groups and community-based organizations as a mode of protecting research participant interests, as the influence of financial interests spreads these entities may also become suspect in pressing an agenda on behalf of those they purport to represent. This essay describes the way these influences may take hold to influence intermediaries between investigators and participants in biomedical and public health research settings. Researchers must recognize their obligation to inform and empower research participants directly; the involvement of advocacy or community-based groups cannot supplant this responsibility.