February 22, 2006

NORMAN – In this day and age, it is difficult to imagine the medical profession using individuals as guinea pigs for research without their knowledge, all with governmental consent. However, this did happen over 65 years ago, when the U.S. Public Health Service began recruiting rural Alabamans for a study on how syphilis progressed in black men. Although it was determined that these men were infected with syphilis, they were not treated for the disease.

The so-called Tuskegee experiment, when divulged to the general public in 1972, sparked debate concerning the ethical use of human beings in clinical experiments, ultimately leading to new government guidelines.

Vanessa Gamble, director of the Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care, will discuss these issues in a free, public presentation titled “The Legacy of the United States Public Health Syphilis Study at Tuskegee.”

The discussion is part of a Presidential Dream Course offered through Kathleen Crowther-Heyck, assistant professor in the History of Science Department in the University of Oklahoma College of Arts and Sciences. The presentation will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, in the Scholars Room, Oklahoma Memorial Union, 900 Asp Ave., Norman.

Gamble received her bachelor of arts in medical sociology and human biology from Hampshire College in 1974 and her doctorate of medicine and doctoral degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in 1983 and 1987. She is the founder and former director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has held positions and appointments at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Harvard University and University of Massachusetts.

Over the years, Gamble has held appointments and memberships in many professional associations and national organizations, including the Health Action Conference Advisory Committee for Families USA; Planning Committee for Creating a Black Agenda in Bioethics Conference; and the National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research at the National Institutes of Health. She also has received numerous awards and honors, including her most recent inclusion in 2005 as a member of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences.

In 2004, Gamble became director of the Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care, an institution that promotes interdisciplinary instruction, research and community outreach initiatives that address ethical issues impacting the health and well-being of people of color and other minority populations.

The presentation is sponsored by OU’s Office of the President as part of the Presidential Dream Courses established by President David L. Boren in 2004, which allows instructors to bring renowned speakers to campus in an effort to enrich the academic environment for students and the general public.

Five of the six Presidential Dream Courses for the 2005-2006 academic year were awarded to departments in the College of Arts and Sciences. The departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Communication, English, History of Science and Religious Studies all are recipients for this year’s special funding.

For more information or accommodations on the basis of disability, contact Crowther-Heyck at (405) 325-2213 or kch@ou.edu.