ConflictOfInterest Policy Whos Interests are at Stake

The thought of commercialization in the school environment leaves one to speculate that all sources of human development are easily bought. Large commercial business’ are able to sew a price tag to the lapel’s of grand universities, making them do their biding, in exchange for private funding. Harvard university, one of the most well known schools of the United States, has put into consideration an easing up on their conflict-of-interest policy, giving them more leeway to profit from their work

Unlike other schools, such as Stanford and Johns Hopkins, Harvard allows no exceptions to its rules, for they feel that researchers devoting more than 20% of their time to work outside of Harvard, or one who holds more than $20,000 worth of company stock for research, is highly prohibited. (Bio News, 1).

This debate on the conflict-of-interest policy is being reviewed by a committee of senior professors, seeking to boost researchers economic opportunities while ensuring they adhere to the medical school’s ethical standards.

. . .
” says Ruth Faden, director of the Bioethics Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Also, another pitfall is that of misusing students by employing them as poorly paid lab assistants instead of as collaborators and this would fuel public suspicion that research findings were tainted. For example, a psychiatry professor at Brown University has earned more than $500,000 in consulting fees form pharmaceutical companies whose drugs he touted in articles and lectures.

Works cited:

Conflict of Interest, by Anna Becan. This means that the sprit of the law is often open to interpretation and professors may stray from the public’s views of what is “appropriate”, while still staying loyal to their university bounds.

Harvard is now straddling competing interests in hopes that they will be able to revise the guidelines of their conflict-of-interest policy, keeping the policies with in reasonable bounds to better serve both the human good as well as the good of the school.

Administrators say they do not wish to let the conflict-of-interest policy take too long for consideration, for they realize that this is a time when medical schools throughout the country confront ongoing ethical dilemmas as government research grants dry up and professors rely more heavily on corporate money. I find that Harvard although highly egotistical with their reputation, seeks a better method of gaining profit while helping serve their students (and researchers) needs to maintain their programs at Harvard Medical School. com

. (Bio News, 2)

“The conundrum now is one of trying to strike a balance between the obvious benefits to society that come from the increased infusion of funds from the corporate arena. I find these all very good points, for it proves to me that although money is a main concern for such a large university they also want to keep the publics “ best interests” at heart. (Bio News, 3)

Some potential pitfalls and abuses exist if the rules are loosened. Therefore, each opposing side looked solely to the amount of money one would profit if able to loosen restrictions or tighten control over the researchers and their works.

Common topics in this essay:
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Approximate Word count = 744
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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