Professor Susan Reverby’s findings garner apology from Secretary of State, President

Women and Gender Studies Professor Susan Reverby's findings have drawn unanticipated world attention. Her report released the details of a government medical study in which hundreds of black Guatemalans were infected with syphilis. The report, which details involuntary experiments conducted on male prisoners and mental health patients in the 1940s, has elicited a public apology from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton '69 to the families of the victims. At the time of the study, syphilis—a sexually transmitted disease—was untreatable.

"I didn't expect it," Reverby said of the unprecedented reaction to her report. President Barack Obama and Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom are currently involved in discussions regarding Reverby's discoveries.

The Marion Butler McLean Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, Reverby was researching her latest book, "Examining Tuskegee,"—which documents the infamous forty-year syphilis studies in Tuskegee, Alabama— when she uncovered an unpublished research report in the University of Pittsburg archives.

The report described experiments conducted on human subjects in Guatemala between 1946 and 1948. The research was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory of the U.S. Public Health Service, with the cooperation of the National Army and the Ministry of Health, among other parties. Guatemalan officials were also involved.

Reverby chose to keep these newer revelations out of her Tuskegee book to ensure that the experiments were not mistakenly linked. Both studies were conducted on black men in the hopes of learning about syphilis treatments--the Tuskegee and Guatemalan subjects did not

During the experiments in Guatemala, medical specialists used infected prostitutes to deliberately spread syphilis and gonorrhea to male prisoners, who were provided with drugs to see if infection could be prevented. When the pool of subjects proved to be insufficient, the researchers studied rabbits and chimpanzees before turning to mental health patients.

"I thought, ‘this is pretty horrific,'" Reverby said of her initial reaction to the unpublished report. "But to be honest, until the CDC [Center for Disease Control] reacted I didn't quite realize how powerful it was."

"What's interesting to me is that they knew then that this was wrong," Reverby noted. Unlike the officials in charge of the Tuskegee experiments, who believed they were not doing anything immoral, the Guatemalan researchers felt that deception was necessary; they took steps to veil their actions from all but a few individuals.

News of Reverby's findings spread quickly. After sending an unpublished copy of her paper to David Sencer, the former director of the CDC, her work was rapidly circulated through the organization, and then up the "chain of command" until it reached the White House. By Oct. 1, the official apology by Clinton on behalf of the U.S. government was arranged, and Obama had contacted Colom. Since then, Reverby has been interviewed by many of the world's top media sources, including the BBC, NBC, CNN and USA Today. She has even been invited to Guatemala, although she is currently uncertain if she will accept the invitation.

"The press coverage and reaction has been overwhelming," Reverby wrote in an online article published on Bioethical Forum. She also admitted that she is, of course, very proud of the work she's accomplished.

Despite her recent phenomenal success, Reverby hasn't forgotten her "day job," that of a Wellesley professor. She cites the college community as one of the main contributing factors to her achievements as a researcher. "I had money from the Chair [of my McLean professorship] for travel and research, as well as faculty research money, which paid for my trip to Pittsburg," she said. Although students weren't involved in her research on the Guatemalan medical studies, she has enlisted students in the past to assist her with other research.

For students who aspire to one day accomplish a feat like Reverby's, either through a groundbreaking discovery or some other noteworthy achievement, Reverby has two pieces of advice: work hard and make connections.

"There is definitely something to be said for the laborious education you receive here," she said. "Do your best work, but also keep your connections going. I could've written the most brilliant piece in the world, but if I'd published it in the ‘Journal of Policy History,' twenty people would've read it and nobody would care."

A prepublication copy of Susan Reverby's groundbreaking paper can be found on the Wellesley faculty webpage: www.wellesley.edu/WomenSt/fac_ reverby.html. The U.S. Government's response is online at www.hhs.gov/1946inoculationstudy/.