The Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics provides confidential ethics consultations to individuals and teams seeking expertise on ethical and social challenges and responses that may emerge in research and its translation. We welcome requests from academic labs, nonprofits, and industry.

Consultations might be conducted for a variety of purposes, including analyzing the impacts of a particular policy on the conduct of bench science, identifying the ethical or social impacts of conducting a particular line of research, or suggesting specific actions to minimize risks and maximize benefits to society of pursuing that line of research. It should be noted that RECon is distinct from the Clinical Consultation Service provided by the Stanford Hospital and Clinics Ethics Committee.

To request a consultation, please send a message to becs-spectrum@lists.stanford.edu.

Upon email, a member of our team will reach out within one business day to schedule a time to meet.

FAQs

Who can access the Research Ethics Consultation Service?

RECon is available to anyone and does not require affiliation with Stanford University. Requests may come from:

• Research investigators (the PI or anyone on the research team)

• Research study participants

• Research coordinators

• Faculty, staff, scholars, students and medical professionals

• Institutional Review Boards

• Regulatory committees and other institutional bodies

• Companies 

Is my project appropriate for a RECon consult?

Requests that fall under the direct regulation and/or recommendation of another institutional body (such as the FDA, IRB, University Conflict of Interest Committee or OMBUDS offices) will be referred to the appropriate group for further consideration. For example, RECon is not meant to supersede the IRB or adjudicate cases of scientific misconduct. For particularly complex or involved requests, the RECon team may solicit the advice and guidance of an outside group.

We encourage you to send an email to us if you are unsure. Some examples of relevant topics can be found here.

We do not take consults related to human resource issues, noncompliance, conflicts of interests, research misconduct, authorship disputes, or intellectual property.

Who staffs the Research Ethics Consultation Service?

• RECon staff are Stanford University faculty and members of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. They are experts in research ethics and regulation, and they represent a wide range of disciplines including but not limited to biomedical research, genetics, law and philosophy.

Is the consult confidential?

• Yes; the identities of those requesting consultations and all research data, ideas and ethical issues are confidential. With permission of the investigators, de-identified descriptions of cases may be requested for educational purposes, including publications.  

Is there a fee?

• No; there is no fee for using RECon.

What does a RECon consult look like?

After requesting a consult, a member of our team will return your email within 24 hours to schedule a time to meet. The team from Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics will contain minimally one postdoctoral fellow and one faculty member from the center. We will meet with your group for one hour to discuss concerns, and write a comprehensive report in response. In some cases, follow up meetings will be scheduled. We aim to return the report to the consultee within two weeks of our meeting.

What are some examples of previous RECon consults?

We have provided consults on a wide range of topics ranging across disciplines. A few highlights include:

• Smart toilets

  • Ge TJ, Rahimzadeh VN, Mintz K, Park WG, Martinez-Martin N, Liao JC, Park SM. Passive monitoring by smart toilets for precision health. Sci Transl Med. 2023 Feb;15(681):eabk3489. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abk3489.

• Non-invasive prenatal genetic testing

  • Allyse M, Sayres LC, Havard M, Ormond KE, King JS, Cho MK, Greely H, & Magnus D.  (2013) Best Ethical Practices in the Provision of Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing.  Prenatal Diagnosis. doi: 10.1002/pd.4144.

• Ambient intelligence

  • Martinez-Martin N, Luo Z, Kaushal A, Adeli E, Haque A, Kelly SS, Wieten S, Cho MK, Magnus D, Fei-Fei L, Schulman K, Milstein, A. (2020) Ethical issues in using ambient intelligence in health-care settings. The Lancet. Digital health.2020 DOI 10.1016/S2589-7500(20)30275-2 

• Minimal genome

  • Cho, MK., Magnus, D., Caplan, A. L., McGee, D. and Ethics of Genomics Group.  (1999) Ethical considerations in synthesizing a minimal genome.  Science 286: 2087-2090.
    
    

We also recommend reading the following article for a general overview:

• Pilcher, Helen. "Bioethics: Dial ‘e’ for ethics." Nature 440.7088 (2006).

What are the deliverables from a RECon consult?

We will provide a written report detailing problems discussed and recommendations from the team. Recommendations do not carry any regulatory authority, nor should a consultation imply or be represented as implying Stanford University’s, or the Center for Biomedical Ethics’ approval or endorsement of the project specified.

What should I include in my email requesting the consultation?

You are welcome to include any information you would like. The following information is optional to include, but would be helpful:

• Project title

• Name of the individuals, organizations, or companies affiliated with the project

• Project description

• Study protocols, consent documents, advertising material, etc

• Project funding source

• Questions you have for the consultation

• Desired timeline for the consultation