Tower Hill Alumna Gabrielle Rappolt-Schlichtmann Presents Predicament of Scientific Research in Forum

Last Tuesday, February 2nd, Tower Hill welcomed its alumna, Gabrielle Rappolt-Schlichtmann (class of ‘93), to present as a speaker for the 2009-10 Forum series: Morality Versus the Public Interest. Dr Rappolt-Schlichtmann, who received a doctorate in Human Development and a master’s degree in Behavioural Neuroscience, both from Harvard University, used her experience as a research scientist for the Centre for Applied Special Technology, a non-profit organization, to comment on the ethicality of scientific research. First discussing the reliability of the randomised controlled trial – in which subjects are given an assignment of which they are uninformed, as opposed to other tests, wherein the subject volunteers for a specific assignment – Dr Rappolt-Schlichtmann then detailed practices that sometimes occur within these studies which could be seen as unethical, such as potentially dangerous conditions, delaying collection of consent, and manipulation of information in reports.

- Serena Pierce 2011