by Alison Bass | Nov 16, 2009 | Uncategorized
Talk about synergy. Just a few days ago, my health and science journalism class at Brandeis was discussing ethics in science, using as a template an old case example involving scientific fraud in the University of Michigan laboratory then headed by Dr. Francis...
by Alison Bass | Nov 9, 2009 | Uncategorized
In the days since the Fort Hood shooting, I have wondered whether the gunman, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, was taking antidepressants in the weeks or months before he sprayed a medical clinic with bullets, killing 13 people. I hesitated to raise that question since there...
by Alison Bass | Nov 2, 2009 | Uncategorized
Just in case you didn’t read the Saturday papers, let me call your attention to this article in The Boston Globe about the chickens coming home to roost for Amgen, the California biotech that makes Aranesp, an anti-anemia drug for people with cancer and kidney...
by Alison Bass | Oct 26, 2009 | Uncategorized
The recent murder suicide of an elderly couple in Newton, Massachusetts brought to mind a horrific story I heard while attending the ICSSP conference in Syracuse a few weeks ago. In 2006, David Crespi, a former banking executive with no criminal record or history of...
by Alison Bass | Oct 21, 2009 | Uncategorized
At the NASW annual conference this past weekend, I happened to sit next to a scientist who studies ethical violations in scientific papers. Over lunch, Harold (Skip) Garner, a professor of biochemistry and internal medicine at the Unviersity of Texas Southwestern...
by Alison Bass | Oct 12, 2009 | Uncategorized
When my son was in kindergarten, he wrestled with his classmates and bit one of them, and his teacher (who was one or two years out of school) suggested that I get him tested for “neurological issues.” I ran her suggestion past my son’s pediatrician,...
by Alison Bass | Oct 5, 2009 | Uncategorized
A week or so ago, I gave a talk to about 120 senior citizens at Brandeis University’s Lifelong Learning Institute. The crowd was largely receptive to the topic — how American consumers have been routinely misled about the safety and effectiveness of new...
by christina | Sep 29, 2009 | Slider
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new...
by Alison Bass | Sep 28, 2009 | Uncategorized
A festschrift is defined by Wikipedia as “a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during his or her lifetime,” usually on the occasion of the honoree’s retirement. Dictionary.com offers much the same definition for...
by Alison Bass | Sep 28, 2009 | Uncategorized
In response to the recent storm of publicity over the failure of many medical researchers to disclose the lucrative personal payments they get from the drug and medical device companies that also fund their research, many medical journals have developed written...
