When it comes to speaking out about conflict of interest in medical research, Dr. Catherine DeAngelis is not known for taking the soft approach. An outspoken advocate for researchers to disclose all outside funding that may create conflict of interest, DeAngelis has tightened controls at the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)—where she serves as editor-in-chief—when conflicts of interest on the part of authors have been unmasked after publication.
DeAngelis will deliver the Center for the History of Medicine’s Horace W. Davenport Lecture in the Medical Humanities at 3 p.m. Oct. 27 in the MCHC Auditorium, C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. The lecture, titled “Conflicts of Interest in Medical Research: Facts and Friction,” is the sixth in the annual Davenport Lecture series. It is free and open to the public.
The New York Times says if Tony Soprano were being treated by DeAngelis, he would have been scared straight long ago. The first woman to edit the prestigious 123-year-old journal, she has survived a kidnapping by Chechen rebels and being hit by a runaway bus and has been a strong champion for women faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Most recently DeAngelis has faced accusations of sloppiness at JAMA, where several authors’ articles have failed to make important disclosures. In one case, authors publishing a study on antidepressants and pregnancy failed to disclose fees and funding from pharmaceutical companies. In another, authors linking women’s migraines with heart disease did not disclose a link to companies making painkillers.
In response she points out the many editorial controls she has implemented, and says with 6,000 submissions annually that average six authors each, she simply cannot check every researcher.
For the Davenport Lecture DeAngelis, who has more than 30 years of experience in the peer-review process as an author, reviewer and editor, will discuss the challenges and rewards of her editorial experiences, and the obstacles to preventing conflict of interest in research.
In addition to her role as editor-in-chief of JAMA, DeAngelis is a professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Before her appointment with JAMA, she was vice dean for academic affairs and faculty at the school. From 1994-2000, she was editor of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Most of her recent publications have focused on conflict of interest, women in medicine and medical education.
The lectureship is named for the late Horace W. Davenport, who died in August 2005 at age 92. He was chair of the Department of Physiology from 1956-78. Davenport was one of the world’s preeminent gastric physiologists. His landmark studies led to the discovery of the stomach’s barrier to injury. After retiring from active status in 1983 he continued his longtime interest in the history of physiology and medicine, devoting himself to it as a scholarly activity.
The lecture is sponsored by the Center for the History of Medicine. Co-sponsors are the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, the Science, Technology and Society Program and the Medical School Office of the Dean.
