Harvard Medical School Professors Given an “F” from the American Medical Student Association

This is an interesting piece about the students and their perception and and the conflict of interest with financial relationships. Of course, without some type of financial support, some projects would never get off the ground. There have been quite a few stories in the press of late. The hospitals and school are separate entities so one policy that covers all is difficult to facilitate. Not only is Congress up in the air, but it appears now that students have some concerns.

Boston though is a high technology area, even outside of health care so it would make sense to maybe have more of a concentrated scenario with outside funding. BD

(NaturalNews) Pressure is building on Harvard Medical School to better regulate the massive gifts and consulting fees that faculty members regularly receive from drug companies, with increasing attention being drawn to the great potential for conflict of interest in such relationships.
"Before coming here, I had no idea how much influence companies had on medical education," said first-year medical student David Tian. "And it's something that's purposely meant to be under the table, providing information under the guise of education when that information is also presented for marketing purposes.".

A full 1,600 of 8,900 teachers have reported at least one financial relationship in an area related to their teaching, research or medical practice.

A student movement has recently taken form at Harvard Medical School, demanding widespread reform of the school's conflict-of-interest policies. The movement was sparked by a number of high-profile scandals in which Harvard medical faculty were revealed to have concealed hundreds of thousands of dollars in pharmaceutical company gifts, sparking a Senate investigation. This was followed by the American Medical Student Association giving the school an F grade for its conflict-of-interest disclosure policies.

The University of Pennsylvania, in contrast, received an A, while Columbia, Stanford and New York Universities received Bs.

Harvard Medical School Professors are Paid Big Bucks by Big Pharma to Push Meds

Source: Pharmagossip