Corporate Ethics

Ethics in research has been an old topic of discussion for over four decades and counting. I have sat through various discussions and workshops on the subject and heard the importance and arguments why all research institutes should uphold a high ethical standard and how much of those standards are depreciating in our society.

As an undergraduate research assistant in the Biomedical Engineering department here at the University of Houston, the importance of ethics in research cannot be over emphasized. I have learned to effectively work through frustrating research obstacles and build strong relationships in my research environment as a skill that will serve me well in years to come through the experiences I have acquired as an undergraduate.

Two semesters ago, our biggest project at the time in the lab where I work as a research assistant received a grant of over $500,000 from the National Institute of Health to conduct a cancer diagnostic research that involved the use of a novel non-invasive imaging technique. I was assigned to work on the project with a group of eight graduate students currently pursuing a Ph.D. We had completed the first part of our research about five months prior and currently working on the second part when we suddenly received a call from the National Institute of Health grant committee that the deadline to conclude the research and submit the manuscript for publication has been moved up by two months.

The sudden change and news came as a shock to our team, and the pressure to meet the new due date became more intense. For the next two weeks, my team and I did not see the sun, literally. We came in to the lab at 6:30am in the morning and left at midnight. My task was to conduct a thorough data analysis using several engineering software and platforms, interpret the data, and make sense of the results.

One Tuesday afternoon while we were all in the lab conducting some experiments, one of the major devices we were using suddenly broke down and stopped working. It felt like the world had come to an end and everyone on the team already under an intense amount of pressure was on a brink of losing their sanity. To meet the due date, the majority of the graduate students decided to formulate some part of the results without concluding the entire experiment. As an undergraduate who has heard quite a lot about the topic of ethics in research, I was suddenly faced with a tough reality of what it means to be ethical.

I made an unpopular decision at the time to do the right thing regardless of the pressure we were all under and convinced the team that it was not too late to do the right thing, and suggested that we either borrow a different device from another department or order a new one and have it delivered overnight. Fortunately, they went with the latter and we had a new device shipped overnight. Three days later, we concluded the research experiments with the right amount of results; completed the final manuscript and submitted it to the NIH committee. About a month later, we received a call that the research paper has been approved for publication – we celebrated.

The experience reaffirmed my position of the importance and growing need of ethics in research, and as a response to the topic of corporate ethics, I believe it is vital in our society today as the challenge has profoundly influenced my development and growth. I feel humbled to have done the right thing at the right time when it mattered.