Protecting Children and Decisionally-Impaired Adults
in Biomedical and Behavioral Research: Is Bioethics Enough?

Summer Ethics Institute
National Catholic School of Social Service
The Catholic University of America
Washington, DC
June 6, 2003

Vera Hassner Sharav, M.L.S.

        Mrs. Sharav is the President of the Alliance for Human Research Protection (AHRP), which she organized to serve as a public interest watchdog to protect the life safety of human subjects in biomedical and behavioral research. Her database tracking ethical violations in research is a resource used extensively by investigative reporters. Her Infomails have a wide following in and outside of government circles. Among her numerous achievements was to organize and assist victims of research abuse (and family members) to prepare testimonies about their experience as subjects of research for presentation before the National Bioethics Advisory Commission. These testimonies about ethical violations led to the prize-winning series in the Boston Globe, "Doing Harm: Research on the Mentally Ill," which resulted in the shutting down of 29 clinical trials by the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (1999).

Robert Whitaker acknowledges her as the source of inspiration for his prize-winning book, Mad in America (2001). Mrs. Sharav served on the Children’s Workgroup of the National Human Research Advisory Committee (2001-2002). The extent of her activities during the past 8 years can be ascertained by going to www.google.com, and typing in "Vera Sharav."

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