Highs and Lows of Research

Abstract

Abstract One way of conceptualizing the principal achievements and failures of human research is to consider to what extent research has contributed value to society. Research is generally considered to have value if it has the prospect of producing knowledge that can be used toward improvements in health or well-being. The authors selected nine case studies of research during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries that illustrate multiple ways research has achieved or failed to achieve value. Included in the “highs” of research are the development of antiretroviral therapy for HIV, Michael Marmot’s Whitehall studies, and the evaluation of hormone replacement therapy, among others. The authors’ cases of “lows” include genetic research on the etiology of homosexuality, the US Public Health Service’s Guatemala sexually transmitted disease experiments, and the gene transfer experiment that Jesse Gelsinger participated in, among others. A retrospective analysis of how research has and hasn’t contributed value may inform more thoughtful assessments of value in future research.