Profession
Think tank to tackle conflicts of interest at medical schools
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted March 13, 2006
The Assn. of American Medical Colleges' executive council gave the go-ahead on establishing a new task force to examine interactions that medical schools and teaching hospitals have with drug and medical device makers.
The task force is expected to recommend ways to ensure that industry marketing does not undermine educational programs' objectivity or bias physicians' evidence-based decision-making.
AAMC President Jordan J. Cohen, MD, was a co-author of a Jan. 25 Journal of the American Medical Association article calling for the nation's medical schools and teaching hospitals to take the lead in eliminating conflicts of interest between physicians and the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.
He said the AAMC council believed "that medical educators and the medical profession should establish more effective policies and procedures to minimize conflicts of interest" to maintain the public's trust and protect patients.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/03/13/prbf0313.htm.
