Developing a framework for the ethical design and conduct of pragmatic randomized controlled trials

2017 - Present

To make informed decisions, patients, health providers and health system managers need reliable evidence of treatment safety, effectiveness and cost. Pragmatic randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are designed to provide such evidence by evaluating treatments in real-world conditions. But pragmatic RCTs raise difficult ethical issues that challenge researchers and research ethics committees. Our research team, comprising 25 philosophers, trialists and biostatisticians from five countries, will develop guidance for the ethical design and conduct of pragmatic RCTs.

Research ethics in the COVID-19 pandemic

2020 - Present

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect globally. Hundreds of millions of people have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, between 7 and 15 million people have died globally. The pandemic has highlighted difficult research ethics issues, including ethical issues in human challenge studies, cluster trials to evaluate public health measures, and reporting randomized controlled trials impacted by the pandemic. My research and public outreach explore each of these issues.