Historical Vignettes of Clinical Trials
| A study conducted in 1721 involved six inmates from London's Newgate Prison (pictured, right). The inmates were inoculated by implanting smallpox matter from infected patients on both arms and legs of inmates. This proved to support the theory of inoculation. |  Courtesy of www.umich.edu
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 © Edinburgh at the University Press |
In 1747, while at sea, James Lind conducted one of the first experiments using a control group. The experiment involved seamen aboard the SS Salisbury (pictured left) affected by scurvy. It was this experiment that first introduced the idea of using a simultaneously treated control group. |
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Courtesy of Jill Meinert |
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| In 1798, Edward Jenner (pictured, right) conducted a series of experiments involving inoculation of people with cowpox as a protection against smallpox. It was these early experiments that led to the discovery of a vaccination for smallpox. |  Courtesy of www.jennermuseum.com |
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The University Group Diabetes Program (UGDP) was one of the first multicenter trials to focus on the treatment of a chronic non-infectious disease. The UGDP began in 1960 and was completed in 1974. |
| Donald Fredrickson (1924-2002), director of the National Institutes of Health (pictured, right). A moving force in the development of clinical trials as the "indispensable ordeal." |  ©NIH/NY Times |