AAMC Submits Joint Comment Letter
on Conflicts of Interest Rule
The AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges), along with
the Association of American Universities, the American Council on
Education, and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities
submitted a joint comment
letter to the department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
on the proposed rule concerning the management of financial conflicts
of interest in federally-funded research. The proposed
rule would significantly change how institutions and investigators,
funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other Public
Health Service agencies, disclose, report, and manage financial
conflicts of interest.
The organizations noted that the rule generally balances the disclosure
and reporting of financial conflicts of interest with institutional
resources required to conform to the new regulations, but urged
HHS to consider mechanisms to help reduce the regulatory burdens
that will be placed on institutions and investigators. The final
regulations are expected to be issued by HHS before the end of 2010.
Academic Medicine Commentary on
Research in the Era of Health Care Reform
The AAMC's Chief Science Officer Ann Bonham, Ph.D., is the first
author of a commentary, "Putting
Evidence to Work: An Expanded Research Agenda for Academic Medicine
in the Era of Health Care Reform," recently released online
in Academic Medicine. The piece discusses how the new health
care law provides opportunities for biomedical research to focus
more on "patient- and population-outcome-oriented science" through
comparative effectiveness research. Bonham and the authors, which
also include David Davis, M.D., David Longnecker, M.D., and Stephen
Heinig of the AAMC, encourage members of the medical education community
to engage in the science necessary to improve health care delivery
and make recommendations for how academic health centers can enhance
their research agendas. The commentary will be published in the
October issue of the journal.
AAMC Files Amicus Brief on Behalf of Mayo
Foundation, et al., v. United States
The AAMC and four other associations recently filed an amicus
brief on behalf of the Mayo Foundation and the University of
Minnesota in a case that will be argued before the U.S. Supreme
Court. The case contests the validity of a U.S. Department of the
Treasury regulation that makes the unequivocal determination that
medical residents are not students because they work more than 40
hours a week and therefore must pay Federal Insurance Contributions
Act taxes on their stipends. The associations argue that the exclusion
of residents from the category of "students" is invalid because
it is contrary to the meaning of the statutory term "student" and
is an arbitrary and capricious action on the part of the Department
of the Treasury.
New AAMC Analysis in Brief Examines Tenure
for Clinical M.D. Faculty
A new AAMC Analysis
in Brief presents data on current trends of tenure systems
and the changing distribution of clinical M.D. faculty on tenure-eligible
tracks in U.S. medical schools. The results show that since 1994
the percentage of schools with tenure systems has remained steady.
Since 1984, however, the overall percentage of faculty in tenure-eligible
tracks has decreased 26.7 percent. This change is due to the increase
of non-tenure-eligible positions in response to medical school expansion.
According to the authors, the study raises questions about how best
to value and reward faculty as schools work to recruit and retain
high-quality educators.
On the move
D. Douglas Miller, M.D., has resigned as dean of the school of
medicine and senior vice president for health affairs for the Medical
College of Georgia. Peter F. Buckley, M.D., was appointed interim
dean. Buckley is chair of the department of psychiatry and health
behavior and senior associate dean for leadership at the Medical
College of Georgia. He is expected to serve as interim dean until
a permanent dean has been recruited.
Lawrence A. Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D., was named principal deputy director
of the National Institutes of Health. Tabak assumes the position
held by Raynard Kington, M.D., Ph.D., who stepped down in July 2010
to become president of Grinnell College. Tabak has served as director
of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research since
September 2000. He was also acting NIH deputy director in 2009 and
most recently served as the acting director of the Division of Program
Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiative.
