Altruism

It’s the holidays, gifts are being exchanged and we look to the New Year. At the same time, there are flurries of investigations and mudslinging. I started thinking about how it all fits together. Without sponsors and institutions, research wouldn’t get started. Without sites, it would never get done. Without investigators, it wouldn’t get done safely. And so on. IRBs, OHRP, the FDA, monitors, auditors, coordinators, on and on, it is a really big project. I’m glad we have a really great team. However, at the center of it all, and I think we all agree, are the subjects. Without them, there is no research. The fact is that they ARE the gift; they are giving, literally, of themselves so research can progress.

Looking at it from that perspective, I saw subjects also know the secret to research. The answer to the big Why. Why do research at all? A good start is why do most people volunteer for research?

The cynical-minded note the large sums offered to volunteers in some studies. Others point out research offers the chance at treatments not otherwise available. Just plain self-interest, they say. They look the same way at sponsors and institutions: they just want to make money. Sites too. (Don’t we all?)

But let’s go back to our subjects—the ones who are getting the “large sums” and the “new treatments.” Sure, those are on their lists of answers. But there is one item that is at the top of all of their lists. The lists of those subjects, and the ones who are not compensated, and the ones who really know this study will not benefit them--they all have one item in common. They are doing it for the future. To help others, to add knowledge, even a little, so someone else can have it a little better. A New Year’s resolution in every study, in every subject.

It’s true for us, too. We could be working for a bank, or dot-com, or a million other jobs. Probably making as much money, if not more, yet we chose this. Why? To help people. What’s more, if it’s true for the subjects, and its true for us, it’s probably true for you, too. You know what else? It’s probably true for that ___ (insert sponsor, site, IRB, monitor, etc.) that just annoys you to no end, too.

Altruism is a key reason people enroll as subjects in research. To make the world a better place. It’s why we are all doing this, really. Sure, there are some, umm, misguided individuals getting a lot of attention. But the grand majority of us are here for the same reason. To help people. I guess at this time of year, I thought it was just nice to draw some attention to it.