FROM INTERNAL GUIDELINES TO THE LAW

FROM INTERNAL GUIDELINES TO THE LAW

Delores Parron, associate director for special populations at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in Rockville, Md., refers to her office as the "mother cell," where the inclusion guidelines began. The NIMH office was put in place in 1983. Parron participated in a U.S. Public Health Service Task Force on Women's Health Issues from 1984 to 1985 that found, she states, "on those studies of diseases and disorders affecting men and women, to the greatest extent, women had been excluded." As a result, in 1986, NIH and the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA) promulgated guidelines for inclusion of women in research studies.

Parron says she then realized that the same types of guidelines could be put in place for minorities. She drafted a proposal and both NIH and ADAMHA adopted separate rules for inclusion of minorities...