Paul Levy

I am often amused by the "expertise" of Wall Street analysts. It's particularly instructive to compare the first one below, a person who hopped on the bandwagon driven by the company, compared to the second one, who retained a more rigorous standard of review.

JAMA has just published a research letter entitled "Academic Medical Center Leadership on Pharmaceutical Company Boards of Directors," in which it presents a list of deans and other high officials from academic medicine who are on the boards of directors of the top pharmaceutical companies.

Rosemary Gibson — author of "The Treatment Trap" — offered a trenchant comment on a ProPublica story by Charles Ornstein about how the University of Illinois violated its own policies by endorsing the product of a medical device company.

A Seattle doctor permits her name and reputation — and that of her hospital — to be used in support of a medical equipment company. Why are these relationships not more closely scrutinized by journalists?