Module232025

07/05/2025

Underserved populations

HW Dalrymple, PhD (Med), PhD (Law), FRSM

Camden & King’s Cross Research Ethics Committee

Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, King’s College London

Formerly Vice-Chair, Centre for Paediatric Clinical Development and Head, Materno-Foetal Medicine, ICON plc.

The Organisation for Professionals in Regulatory Affairs

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Thinking about underserved populations…..

I hope to: provide one working definition of the term “underserved populations”; outline some of the ethical considerations relating to research in underserved populations; explain why some of them are underserved; illustrate some of the current inconsistencies in our ethical thinking; suggest that, despite the differences amongst these groups, consistency of approach is possible, perhaps desirable; induce you to question whether we are doing the best we can; leave you with a heightened sense of awareness of ethics “issues”.

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