Yale University Statement Regarding Proposed Educational and Research Center

An educational and research center with a goal of promoting humane and culturally respectful interview practices among a limited number of members of the armed forces, including medics, has been proposed by a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale. The center would initially be funded by the Department of Defense. No formal proposal has been submitted yet to the University, and such a center would only be established and funded after rigorous academic and ethical review, and only if its goals are consistent with the University’s educational and research missions, and its research is determined to be conducted to the appropriate stringent standards. 

As envisioned, the interview process that would be the focus of the center is central to the discipline and practice of psychiatry and a core competency that is also taught to medical students and residents. Volunteer interviewees would be selected from diverse ethnic groups who would be protected by oversight from Yale’s Human Research Protection Program. Research would be conducted in a manner consistent with all other research at Yale and with the expectation that findings would be reported in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

In short, the center, if established, would be designed in the best traditions of Yale research and scholarship. Public reports stating otherwise are premature and based on speculation and incomplete information. Yale is absolutely committed to the careful design of research and the ethical treatment of research participants.