Medical Research Studies

The rights below are the rights of every person who is asked to be in a medical research study. As an experimental subject, you have the following rights:

  1. To be told what the study is trying to determine.
  2. To be told what will happen to you and whether any of the procedures, drugs, or devices is different from what would be used in standard practice.
  3. To be told about the frequent and/or important risks, side effects, or discomforts of the things that will happen to you for research purposes.
  4. To be told if you can expect any benefit from participating and, if so, what the benefit might be.
  5. To be told the other choices you have and how they may be better or worse than being in the study.
  6. To be allowed to ask any questions concerning the study, both before agreeing to be involved and during the course of the study.
  7. To be told what sort of medical treatment is available if any complications arise.
  8. To refuse to participate or to change your mind about participating after the study is started. This decision will not affect your right to receive the care you would receive if you were not in the study.
  9. To receive a copy of the signed and dated consent form.
  10. To be free of pressure when considering whether you wish to agree to be in the study.

If you have other questions, please ask the researcher or research assistant. In addition, you may contact the Institutional Review Board (IRB), which is concerned with protecting volunteers in research projects. You may reach the IRB office by calling 916-703-9151, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, or by writing to the Institutional Review Board, CTSC Building, Suite 1400, Room 1429, 2921 Stockton Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95817.

See Research Subject's Bill of Rights in Additional Languages »

Learn more about participating in dermatology clinical trials » 

Or contact us:

Clinical Research Unit
3301 C Street, Suite 1400
Sacramento, CA 95816
Telephone: 916-734-1267
Fax: 916-442-5702
Email: dermstudies@ucdavis.edu