Research Library

The authors urge consideration of issues such as consent, confidentiality and return of results to ensure that the benefits of postmortem genetic testing are maximized and the harms are minimized.

Analysis of a survey conducted by the authors found that prosocial behavior plays an important role in an individual’s ability to engage in health-promoting behaviors, such as physical activity, despite adverse conditions. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Aug. 13, 2020.

Societal inequities extend to medical and mental health research. The authors propose a framework for more equitable research that addresses disparities in mental health services and outcomes.

The "molecular autopsy," or the collection of blood and tissue for DNA analysis, is an increasingly pervasive tool in investigating sudden death in the young. The authors offer recommendations that address ethical and policy issues that arise when molecular autopsies are conducted as part of a death investigation by medical examiner or coroner offices.

Current medical research and literature may be overemphasizing the role that hospital volume plays in patient outcomes, according to a study co-authored by health economics fellow Vivian Ho.

The second largest percentage of new HIV infections in the United States occurs among people aged 13 to 24 years old. Yet very few state minor consent laws explicitly authorize adolescents to consent to preventive services for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections without parental permission.

Microfinance institutions have continued to grow over the past few decades, enabling greater access to credit in many of the world's less developed nations. However, in many Muslim countries, the poor tend to reject microfinance on religious grounds. This paper develops an alternative microfinance model that is Islamically permissible and tests it against the standard model.