As with any research or experiments conducted on the human body, translational research and studies can pose many ethical concerns that one should be aware of before implementation. Ensuring informed consent is the responsibility of any researcher, especially those in the T1 and T2 phase of translational research studies (Mandal, Ponnambath, & Parija, 2017) Legal implications may even arise if participants are not well informed of the process and all the risks/benefits that may exist. By ensuring patients are giving their completely informed consent, researchers can eliminate any misconceptions participants may have about the therapeutic benefits of the study that may lead them to participate when they might not have otherwise (Mandal, Ponnambath, & Parija, 2017). Conflicts of interest are another ethical concern in translational research, especially if researchers have anything to gain financially from the study. Social injustice is another ethical concern, especially dealing with population health issues. One example of this might be a resource-rich country conducting a study in a resource-poor country, but the benefits to the health of the population in the resource-poor country might be minimal, or products being studied might be too expensive for participants or the rest of the population to even be able to afford after the study has concluded (Mandal, Ponnambath, & Parija, 2017). This is one area I think it’s important to be mindful of as researchers design studies and where to conduct them. If I were to design a research study and assemble a team, I would ensure that the study was conducted with the goal of improving a problem that is a burden to the health of the population included in the study, and that the interventions or products being developed would actually be affordable to those within that population. I feel this approach would be best to help improve the health of the population in the study.
References:
Mandal, J., Ponnambath, D., & Parija, S. (2017). Ethics of translational medical research. Tropical Parasitilogy, 7(2), 62-64. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5652056/
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