Lecture: "Experimenting with Heroin: The Hidden Assumptions of Randomized Clinical Trials" by Trudy Dehue (UCLA Programs in Medical Classics, 13 January 2004)
Lecture: "Experimenting with Heroin: The Hidden Assumptions of Randomized Clinical Trials" by Trudy Dehue (UCLA Programs in Medical Classics, 13 January 2004) UCLA Programs in Medical Classics is a series of presentations designed to enhance an appreciation of the links among famous medical writings, clinical practice, basic research, and humanistic scholarship. Six times a year these meetings bring together a convivial group of individuals of scholarly tastes—both from the community and from UCLA faculty, students, and staff—for a lecture and an opportunity to discuss and examine texts and topics that embody the history of advances in medicine, as well as the relations of medicine to broader cultural settings. http://www.library.ucla.edu/biomed/his/medicalclassics.html Tuesday, 13 January 2004, 6:00 p.m. Experimenting with Heroin: The Hidden Assumptions of Randomized Clinical Trials. Trudy Dehue, Ph.D. Professor of Theory and History of Psychology, University of Groningen Introduction by Theodore Porter, Ph.D. Professor of History, UCLA Various European countries and Canada are currently conducting or planning randomized clinical trials (RCTs) with heroin users. The aim is to find out whether or not provision of heroin, more so than methadone, improves sever abusers’ physical and psychosocial condition. The first full-fledged RCT with heroin-maintenance was conducted in The Netherlands from 1996 to 2002, and is currently advertised as a success in international scientific and political circuits. However, was the Dutch trial really as smooth and successful as its proponents claim? Dr. Dehue closely studied the vicissitudes of the Dutch trial as part of a larger historical and philosophical research project on the assumptions of RCTs. Whereas she does not contest the benefits of heroin-maintenance, she challenges the international status of RCTs with heroin-maintenance as the royal way to neutral results. The January program is co-sponsored by the UCLA Neuroscience History Archives [http://www.neurosciencearchives.org] This program will begin at 6:00 pm in the UCLA Faculty Center, followed by wine & soft drinks, conversation, and an opportunity to examine some of the books discussed that evening as well as related material from the Biomedical Library’s History & Special Collections Division. There is no charge for the lecture and reception. An optional dinner with the speakers, at $22.00 per person, will take place in the Faculty Center about 7:30 pm. A reservation is required for dinner; please call the History & Special Collections Division of the Louise Darling Biomedical Library at (310) 825-6940 to make a reservation. An abridged form of an appropriate text will be distributed by snailmail to those persons who request it in advance. To request this text or more information, please send Teresa Johnson [tgj@library.ucla.edu] an e-mail, including your name and address, with the words “Medical Classics Program: January 2004 Lecture” in the subject line; or call the History & Special Collections Division at (310) 825-6940. # # # Printable PDF version of January 2004 announcement: http://www.library.ucla.edu/biomed/his/medclass-jan2004.pdf