Transparency and COIs

One of the first things you learn as an investigative reporter is to beware of unconscious biases, including what is known as “anchoring” or “cognitive tunneling.”

I am fortunate to possess content expertise on ethics and conflicts-of-interest (“COI”) in medicine and science, and I teach it in a variety of health professional settings. After reading the [...]More...

Patients and the public benefit when physicians and researchers collaborate with pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology companies to develop products that benefit individual and public health. At the same time, concerns are growing that wide-ranging financial ties to industry may unduly influence professional judgments involving the primary interests and goals of medicine. Such conflicts of interest threaten the integrity of scientific investigations, the objectivity of professional education, the quality of patient care, and the public’s trust in medicine.

A history of influence, scandal, and denial.