Conflict of Interest and the Public Trust
- Catherine D. DeAngelis, MD, MPH
- Author Affiliation: Dr DeAngelis is Editor, JAMA.
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
This issue of THE JOURNAL contains a cluster of articles that address students', residents', and faculty members' conflicts of interest with pharmaceutical and other companies that financially sponsor teaching and research. Why is this important? University-based educators and researchers, as well as private practitioners, are in frequent contact with representatives from for-profit companies that provide "gifts" and financial support for teaching and research. The enticement begins very early in a physician's career: for my classmates and me, it started with black bags. Dr Kassirer's colleague1 is not alone in remembering which pharmaceutical company provided them. The timing of presenting the black bags early in our first year was wonderfully strategic, as was the inscription of our names on each. I must admit I was very happy to finally have a real symbol of the medical profession after so many hours of what seemed like year 5 of college. It …
