Paul Ndebele

M.S., Ph.D.

Professorial Lecturer and Assistant Director Office of Research Excellence

School: Milken Institute School of Public Health

Department: Global Health, Office of the Dean

Contact:

Email: Paul Ndebele

Office Phone: 202-994-1271

Milken Institute School of Public Health 950 New Hampshire Avenue, NW Washington DC 20052

Paul Ndebele is an Assistant Director in the Office of Research Excellence (ORE) in the Milken Institute School of Public Health. In this position, he coordinates issues related to research integrity, ethics and compliance in the School. He also serves as a Professorial Lecturer in the Department of Global Health where he teaches courses on Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR), Ethical and cultural issues in global research and programming; Ethical Issues in Public Health Policy and Practice; and Ethics in Domestic and International research. Paul also serves as a member of the GWU Institutional Review Board (IRB). He holds a PhD in Research Ethics from the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) in South Africa. He joined the George Washington University in 2018 from Zimbabwe where he completed five years of service as Director at the Medical Research Council Zimbabwe (MRCZ) and has prior appointments as Bioethicist Contractor at the Division of AIDS, US National Institutes of Health; Assistant Director of Research Ethics, Office of Research and Development, University of Botswana; Deputy Director for Centre of Bioethics at College of Medicine, University of Malawi; and Assistant Visiting Professor at Michigan State University. He has served as a scholar in four Bioethics Training Programs including the Fogarty African Bioethics Training Programme (FABTP) at Johns Hopkins University; SARETI at University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa; Erasmus Mundus Bioethics Programme at Padova University (Italy); and Ethox Centre at Oxford University. He holds honorary positions as Adjunct Professor at Africa University; Honorary Lecturer at College of Medicine, University of Malawi; and Adjunct instructor at Michigan State University. He has written widely in the area of Research Ethics and is mainly interested in issues of justice in international research collaborations and improving informed consent for research. He serves on advisory committees for various international initiatives including Johns Hopkins Fogarty African Bioethics Program (FABTP), TIBA project at University of Edinburgh; Global Forum on Bioethics in Research among others.

Expertise

Global Health
Ethics
Public Health
Responsible Conduct of Research
Good Clinical Practice

Education

Doctor of Philosophy (Research Ethics), University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) in South Africa. 2011

Masters of Science in Population Studies, University of Zimbabwe, 1994

Publications

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications

Doumbia, S., Rosen, H.E., Paichadze, N. ….& P. Ndebele. Establishment of a collaborative research ethics training program to prepare the next generation of ethics researchers in Mali. International Journal of Ethics Education 8, 309–319 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40889-023-00170-0
Ndebele, P., Nenguke, Z., Mtande, T. et al. The role of science granting councils in promoting ethics in research and innovation: strategies used by selected African SGCs in promoting ethics in research and innovation. International Journal of Ethics Education 8, 373–387 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40889-023-00169-7
Ndebele P, Krisko P, Bari I, Paichadze N, Hyder AA. Evaluating industry attempts to influence public health: Applying an ethical framework in understanding commercial determinants of health. Front Public Health. 2022 Sep 20;10:976898. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.976898. PMID: 36203686;
Slack C, Ndebele P, Allen M, Salzwedel J. Shifts in UNAIDS ethics guidance and implications for ethics review of preventive HIV vaccine trials. J Int AIDS Soc. 2021 Nov;24 Suppl 7(Suppl 7):e25796. doi: 10.1002/jia2.25796. PMID: 34806302; PMCID: PMC8606858.
K. Hagan, R. Forman, Elias Mossialos, Paul Ndebele, Adnan A. Hyder & Khurram Nasir (2022) COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in the United States: a social justice policy, Expert Review of Vaccines, 21:1, 37-45, DOI: 10.1080/14760584.2022.1999811
Hyder AA, Hyder MA, Nasir K, Ndebele P. Inequitable COVID-19 vaccine distribution and its effects. Bull World Health Organ. 2021 Jun 1;99(6):406-406A. doi: 10.2471/BLT.21.285616. PMID: 34108746; PMCID: PMC8164189.
Ndebele P, Hyder AA. Promoting Ethical Payments in Human Challenge Studies Conducted in LMICs: Are We Asking the Right Questions? Am J Bioeth. 2021 Mar;21(3):51-53. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2020.1870761. PMID: 33616499.
Ndebele P., Shaikh H., Paichadze N., Michaels D., Santos Burgoa C., & A. Hyder. 2020. Commercial Determinants of Health: An Ethical Exploration. International Journal of Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-020-01427-x (in print)
Hyder A., Paichadze N., Ndebele P., Bari I., & M. Werbick. 2020. Commercial determinants of health: Conceptualizing a research agenda: International Journal of Public Health (In print).
Ndebele, P., & Ruzario, S. (2020). How Should Vaccine Campaigns Balance Need for Clear Communication Against Need For Timely Administration of Large-Scale Programs?. AMA Journal of Ethics, 22(2), 76-81.
Matimba, A., Chimatira, A., Kuguyo, O., January, J., Mupambireyi, Z., Marimbe-Dube, B., Kangwende, A., Chingono, A., Chidzonga, M., Gandari J. Hakim, J.G. Nathoo, K., Samkange, C.,Mangezi, W., Lee, S., Gwanzura, L., Cho, M., & P, Ndebele. Understanding Ethical, Legal and Societal Issues (ELSIs) in Human Biobanking and Genomics for Research and Healthcare in Zimbabwe: The Genomics Inheritance Law Ethics and Society (GILES) initiative. AAS Open Research, 2(1), 1.
Hyder, A. A., & Ndebele, P. (2019). Bold Societal Responses Are Needed in Tackling Serious Ethical Violations in Medicine.
Slack, C., Wilkinson, A., Salzwedel, J., & P, Ndebele. (2018). Strengthening stakeholder engagement through ethics review in biomedical HIV prevention trials – Opportunities and complexities. Journal of the International AIDS Society (In Print)
Ben-Jacob, M. G., Jones, N. L., Brock, R. W., Moore, K. H., Ndebele, P., & Thabane, L. (2018). Putting a positive spin on ethics teaching. International Journal of Ethics Education, 1-9.
Serwadda, D., Ndebele, P., Grabowski, M. K., Bajunirwe, F., & Wanyenze, R. K. (2018). Open data sharing and the Global South—Who benefits?. Science, 359(6376), 642-643.
Ndebele P. (2017). Standards of care in Global Health: Identifying the right question. Hastings Center Report 47 (5).
Haghbin, N., Ruzario, S., Ndebele, P., & Voo, T. C. (2017). Land-Locked Developing Countries and Their Infrastructural Challenges in Contributing to Global Ethics: A Zimbabwe Case Study. The American Journal of Bioethics, 17(10), 21-24.
Mwangi R., Ndebele P., and A. Mongoven. (2017). Understanding therapeutic misconceptions and perceptions and enrolment decision making: A pediatric preventive malaria trial in Rural Tanzania. IRB: Ethics & Human Research. 39 (5)
Ndebele, Paul, and Adnan A. Hyder. "Ethical Issues in Health Systems Research in Low and Middle‐Income Countries." Developing world bioethics 16, no. 3 (2016): 122-123. (EDITORIAL)
Dawson, L., Garner, S., Anude, C., Ndebele, P., Karuna, S., Holt, R., & NIAID HIV Vaccine Trials Network. (2015). Testing the waters: Ethical considerations for including PrEP in a phase IIb HIV vaccine efficacy trial. Clinical Trials, 1740774515579165.
Ndebele P., Wassenaar D., Masiye F., and E. Munalula. 2014. Trial Participants’ Understanding Of Randomization, Double-Blinding And Placebo Use In Low Literacy Populations: Findings From A Study Conducted Within A Microbicide Trial In Malawi. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, Vol. 9, No. 2. DOI: 10.1177/1556264614540592
Munalula-Nkandu E, Ndebele P, Siziya S, Munthali JC. 2014. To What Did They Consent? Understanding Consent Among Low Literacy Participants In A Microbicide Feasibility Study In Mazabuka, Zambia. Developing World Bioethics. DOI: 10.1111/dewb.12069
Dal-Ré, R., Ndebele, P., Higgs, E., Sewankambo, N., & D. Wendler. 2014. Protections for clinical trials in low and middle income countries need strengthening not weakening. BMJ 2014; 349:g4254 doi: 10.1136/bmj.g4254
Ndebele P., Wassenaar D., Benatar S., Fleischer T., Kruger M., Adebamowo C., Kass N., Meslin E., & A. Hyder. 2014. Research Ethics Capacity Building in Sub-Saharan Africa:A Review of NIH Fogarty-Funded Programs 2000–2012, Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 24–40
Hyder A, Waleed Z. Ali J, Ndebele P & N. Kass. Evaluating institutional capacity for research ethics in Africa: a case study from Botswana. BMC Medical Ethics 2013, 14:31
Ndebele, P, Blanchard-Horan, C , Shahkolahi A & I. Sanne. Regulatory Challenges Associated With Conducting Multicountry Clinical Trials in Resource-Limited Settings. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. 2014; 65: S29
Ndebele P. The Declaration of Helsinki, 50 Years Later. JAMA. 2013 Nov 27;310(20):2145-6.
Mduluza, T, Midzi N, Duruza D and P. Ndebele Study participants incentives, compensation and reimbursement in resource-constrained settings. BMC Medical Ethics 2013, 14(Suppl 1):S4 (19 December 2013)
Mduluza, T, Midzi, N, Duruza, D & P. Ndebele Maintaining respect and fairness in the usage of stored shared specimens. BMC Medical Ethics 2013, 14(Suppl 1):S7 (19 December 2013)

Paul Ndebele serves as a team member on various NIH funded Projects:

Title: United States-Mali Research Ethics Training Program (US-Mali RETP). 2020-2025: Major Goals: The goal of this project is to strengthen research ethics education and research in Mali through an innovative mode of sustainable capacity development to prepare the next generation ethic researchers. (Role: MPI)
Title: United States-Zambia Trauma and Injury Research Training Program (US-Zambia TIRP). 2021-2026: Major Goals: Developing an innovative, sustainable and collaborative research training program in Zambia with a focus on strengthening institutional and national capacity for NCDs research. (Role: Co-Investigator)
Title: Enabling Ethical Research; A Bioethics Capacity Building Program in Pakistan (EnablER). 2022-2027; Major Goals: Developing an innovative, sustainable research ethics training program At Aga Khan University in Pakistan. (Role: Co-investigator)
Title: Expanding the Pipeline to Graduate Research in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (EPGRAD). 2023-2028; Major Goal: Training the next generation of scientists and clinical researchers in Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias. (Role: Co-investigator)
Title: Armenia-US Collaboration to Address Chronic Disease via Education in Social Determinants Science (ACCESS) 2023-2028: Major Goals: The goal of the ACCESS program is to train young and motivated Armenian investigators to carry out internationally recognized cancer prevention and control research and improve the public health infrastructure for cancer-relevant research in Armenia. (Role; Co-investigator)
Title: Zimbabwe Research Ethics Capacity Strengthening Initiative (ZiRECSI). 2024-2029; Major Goals: Creating a training program in Zimbabwe that will strengthen research ethics education and ethics in research through an innovative model of sustainable capacity development to prepare the next generation of ethics researchers and research ethics committee members. (Role: MPI)