 | Tuskegee Syphilis Study: Encyclopedia II - Tuskegee Syphilis Study - Study clinicians
Tuskegee Syphilis Study - Study clinicians
The study group was formed as part of the venereal disease section of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS). The start of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study is most commonly attributed to Dr. Taliaferro Clark. His initial aim was to follow untreated syphilis in a group of black men for only 6-8 months and then follow up with a treatment phase. Nevertheless Dr. Clark agreed with the deceptive practices suggested by other study members. Clark retired the year after the beginning of the study.
Dr. Eugene Dibble was head of the John Andrew Hospital at the Tuskegee Institute.
Dr. Oliver C. Wenger was director of the PHS Venereal Disease Clinic in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was an enthusiastic supporter of mass screening for syphilis and mass treatment programs in the Black community. At various stages of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Wenger was attached to the Macon County activities, and he played a critical role in developing early study protocols. Wenger continued to advise and assist the Tuskegee Study when it turned into a long term, no-treatment observational study, and he consistently supported a policy of concealing the aims of the study from the subjects as he feared that full disclosure would lead to their non-cooperation.
Dr. Raymond H. Vonderlehr was the on-site director of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study in 1932, and he conducted many of the initial physical exams and medical procedures. Vonderlehr developed the policies that shaped the next stage of the project. For example, he decided to gain the "consent" of the subjects for spinal taps (to look for signs of neurosyphilis) by depicting the diagnostic tests as a "special free treatment." Dr. Wenger subsequently congratulated him for his "flair for framing letters to negros." Vonderlehr retired as head of the venereal disease section in 1943.
Dr. John R. Heller, Dr. Vonderlehr's assistant, succeeded Vonderlehr as director of the venereal disease section of PHS. Heller's leadership coincided with the years when penicillin was introduced as routine treatment for syphilis in other PHS clinics, and when the Nuremberg Code to protect the rights of research subjects was formulated. Heller was alive when the study was brought to public attention in 1972, and defended the ethics of the study.
Nurse Eunice Rivers was an African American nurse who trained at Tuskegee and was recruited from the John Andrew Hospital when the study began. Dr. Vonderlehr became a strong advocate for her role. As the study became a constant fixture within the PHS, Nurse Rivers became the chief continuity person and was the only staff person to work with the study for all 40 years of its existence. By the 1950s, Nurse Rivers had become pivotal to the study—her personal knowledge of all the subjects allowed the very long follow up to be maintained.
Other related archives1932, 1934, 1936, 1947, 1966, 1972, 1974, 1992, 1997, African American, American Medical Association, Arkansas, Belmont Report, Bill Clinton, Booker T. Washington, Center for Disease Control, Emmy Awards, Ethical, Hot Springs, Institutional Review Boards, Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), Josef Mengele, July 25, May 16, NAACP, National Medical Association, Nazi, New York Times, Nuremberg Code, Public Health Service, Pulitzer Prize, Salvarsan, San Francisco, Stock Market Crash of 1929, Syphilis, Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama, U.S. Public Health Service, Washington Star, White House, World War II, ad hoc, arsenic, autopsy, bismuth, class action lawsuit, clinical study, congenital syphilis, consent, draft, drama, due care, ethics, exploitation, hospital, informed consent, literate, mercurial, mercury, morality, neurosyphilis, nurse, organ donation, pathologic, penicillin, philanthropic, placebo, preventive care, prospective study, public health, racism, sharecroppers, spinal tap, spinal taps, stage play, study, syphilis, venereal disease
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Study clinicians", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
