Editing Tuskegee Syphilis Study (section)

===Study clinicians===
The [[venereal disease]] section of the [[U.S. Public Health Service]] (PHS) formed a study group in 1932 at its national headquarters in Washington, D.C. [[Taliaferro Clark]], head of the USPHS, is credited with founding it. His initial goal was to follow untreated syphilis in a group of African-American men for six months to one year, and then follow up with a treatment phase.<ref name="Reverby-2009" /><ref name="Jones-1981">{{cite book|first=James H.|last=Jones|url=https://archive.org/details/badbloodtuskegee00jone_0|title=Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment|publisher=[[Free Press (publisher)|Free Press]]|year=1981|isbn=978-0-02-916676-5|location=New York City|page=91}}</ref> When the [[Rosenwald Fund]] withdrew its financial support, a treatment program was deemed too expensive.<ref name="Whorley-2006">{{Cite thesis|last=Whorley|first=Tywanna Marie|date=2006|title=The Tuskegee Syphilis Study: Access and Control over Controversial Records|url=http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/9244/1/Dissertation_Whorley_2006.pdf|publisher=[[University of Pittsburgh]]|journal=|access-date=May 14, 2020|archive-date=August 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809113148/http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/9244/1/Dissertation_Whorley_2006.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Clark, however, decided to continue the study, interested in determining whether syphilis had a different effect on African-Americans than it did on Caucasians. A regressive study of untreated syphilis in white males had been conducted in Oslo, Norway, and could provide the basis for comparison.<ref name="Whorley-2006" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Jones|first=James H.|title=Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment|publisher=The Free Press|year=1981|isbn=978-0029166703|location=New York|pages=17–19}}</ref> The prevailing belief at the time was white people were more likely to develop neurosyphilis and that black people were more likely to sustain cardiovascular damage. Clark resigned before the study was extended beyond its original length.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Fregni|first1=Felipe|title=Critical Thinking in Clinical Research: Applied Theory and Practice Using Case Studies|last2=Illigens|first2=Ben M.W.|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, England|isbn=9780199324507 |date=2018|page=11}}</ref>

Although Clark is usually assigned blame for conceiving the U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee, [[Thomas Parran Jr.]] also helped develop a non-treatment study in Macon County, Alabama. As the Health Commissioner of New York State (and former head of the PHS Venereal Disease Division), Parran was asked by the Rosenwald Fund to assess their serological survey of syphilis and demonstration projects in five Southern states.<ref>Jones (1981), pp.52–90</ref> Among his conclusions was the recommendation that: "If one wished to study the natural history of syphilis in the African American race uninfluenced by treatment, this county (Macon) would be an ideal location for such a study."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Did a U.S. surgeon general come up with the idea of the notorious Tuskegee syphilis experiment?|url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/thomas-parran-tuskegee-syphilis-hornblum-experiment-20170720.html|last=Bender|first=William|website=www.inquirer.com|date=July 20, 2017 |language=en-US|access-date=May 14, 2020|archive-date=June 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618114758/https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/thomas-parran-tuskegee-syphilis-hornblum-experiment-20170720.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Oliver C. Wenger was the director of the regional PHS Venereal Disease Clinic in [[Hot Springs, Arkansas]]. He and his staff took the lead in developing study procedures. Wenger continued to advise and assist the study when it was adapted as a long-term, no-treatment observational study after funding for treatment was lost.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Blumenthal|first1=Daniel S.|title=Community-Based Health Research: Issues and Methods|last2=DiClemente|first2=Ralph J.|publisher=[[Springer Publishing]]|date=2003|isbn=978-0-8261-2025-0|location=New York City|page=50}}</ref>

[[Raymond A. Vonderlehr]] was appointed on-site director of the research program and developed the policies that shaped the long-term follow-up section of the project. His method of gaining the "[[Informed consent|consent]]" of the subjects for [[Lumbar puncture|spinal taps]] (to look for signs of [[neurosyphilis]]) was by advertising this diagnostic test as a "special free treatment".<ref name="Reverby-2009" />  He also met with local black doctors and asked them to deny treatment to participants in the Tuskegee Study. Vonderlehr retired as head of the venereal disease section in 1943, shortly after [[penicillin]] was proven to cure syphilis.<ref name="Brandt-1978" /> After Vonderlehr's retirement, [[John R. Heller Jr.]], his mentee, succeeded him as head of the venereal disease section. Even with the discovery that penicillin served as an effective treatment for syphilis, Heller did not provide the drug to the participants of the study.<ref>{{cite web |title=Faces of Tuskegee |url=https://msu.edu/course/hm/546/tuskegee.htm |accessdate=December 5, 2015 |publisher=[[Michigan State University]]}}</ref> 

Several African-American health workers and educators associated with the [[Tuskegee Institute]] played a critical role in the study's progress. The extent to which they knew about the full scope of the study is not clear in all cases.<ref name="Reverby-2009" /> [[Robert Russa Moton]], then president of Tuskegee Institute, and [[Eugene Dibble]], head of the Institute's [[John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital]], both lent their endorsement and institutional resources to the government study.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kaplan|first=Mary|title=The Tuskegee Veterans Hospital and Its Black Physicians: The Early Years|publisher=[[McFarland (publisher)|McFarland]]|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|date=2016|pages=90–91, 104|isbn=9781476662985}}</ref>

Nurse [[Eunice Rivers]], who had trained at Tuskegee Institute and worked at its hospital, was recruited at the start of the study to be the main point of contact with the participants.<ref name="Reverby-2009" /> Rivers played a crucial role in the study because she served as the direct link to the regional African-American community. Vonderlehr considered her participation to be the key to gaining the trust of the subjects and promoting their participation.<ref name="Thomas-2000">
{{cite journal|last1=Thomas|first1=Stephen B.|last2=Crouse Quinn|first2=Sandra|s2cid=68358316|year=2000|title=Light on the Shadow of the Syphilis Study at Tuskegee|url=http://health-equity.pitt.edu/658/1/Light_on_the_Shadow_of_the_Syphilis_Study_at_Tuskegee.pdf|url-status=dead|journal=[[Health Promotion Practice]]|publisher=[[SAGE Publications]]|location=Thousand Oaks, California|volume=1|issue=3|pages=234–37|doi=10.1177/152483990000100306|hdl=1903/22693|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616213555/http://health-equity.pitt.edu/658/1/Light_on_the_Shadow_of_the_Syphilis_Study_at_Tuskegee.pdf|archive-date=June 16, 2016|access-date=December 12, 2014|hdl-access=free}}
</ref> As a part of "Miss Rivers' Lodge", participants would receive free physical examinations at [[Tuskegee University]], free rides to and from the clinic, hot meals on examination days, and free treatment for minor ailments. Rivers was also key in convincing families to sign autopsy agreements in return for funeral benefits. As the study became long-term, Rivers became the chief person who provided continuity to the participants. She was the only study staff person to work with participants for the full 40 years.<ref name="Reverby-2009" />

<gallery>
File:vonderle.gif|[[Raymond A. Vonderlehr]] (medical doctor)
File:Eugene Dibble.jpg|[[Eugene Dibble]] (medical doctor)
File:Eunice Rivers.jpg|[[Eunice Rivers Laurie|Eunice Rivers]] (nurse)
File:Oliver Wenger.jpg|Oliver Wenger
</gallery>
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