Cent Eur J Public Health 2012, 20(4):297-298 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3792

Avicenna's Doctrine and Institutional Review Board in International Bio-Medical Research

Amir Radfar¹, Chekameh Kazerouninia², Irina Filip³, Diana Patriche⁴, Seyed Ahmad Asgharzadeh Ahmadi⁵

¹ University of Massachusetts, Lowell, USA

² University of Phoenix, Arizona, USA

³ University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA

⁴ University of Medicine Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Bucharest, Romania

⁵ Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran

Avicenna, an outstanding Persian physician and philosopher (980 AD-1037 AD), established a clinical treaty, or doctrine, without which medical experimentation would not have progressed. This doctrine emphasizes the ultimate divine power of God or a higher being over healing and mandates the patients' well-being as the crucial aspect in all medical care and experiments. The Institutional Review Board, as the ethical body that oversees clinical research, is in line with this doctrine. However, the lack of a homogenous and internationally recognized code of ethics, the decentralized work of ethics oversight committees, the improper implementation of established ethical standards and a shortage of scientific auditing capacities have raised concerns over the possible exploitation of vulnerable populations.

Keywords: Avicenna, bioethics, IRB, Belmont report, vulnerable population, international research

Received: May 15, 2012; Revised: November 8, 2012; Accepted: November 8, 2012; Published: December 1, 2012  Show citation