Catherine DeAngelis Leaving JAMA for Johns Hopkins the Search for a New Editor Begins

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recently announced that its Editor-in-Chief, Catherine D. DeAngelis, M.D., M.P.H., will be leaving her position as of June 30, 2011.

In announcing her decision, DeAngelis, who has served as Editor-in-Chief since January 2000, and also oversees the nine Archives specialty medical journal publications, told her staff and colleagues that “all good things must come to an end.” Dr. DeAngelis will be heading back to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, where she will be developing a Center for Professionalism in Medicine and the Related Professions, including nursing, public health, business and law. She asserted that “this program, based in ethical professional conduct, will be a culmination of education, training and experience, and is the logical next step for her to be based back in her academic home,” where she was vice dean for Academic Affairs and Faculty at before her appointment with JAMA and is a Professor of Pediatrics there.  

Consequently, while “Dr. DeAngelis has been a leader among journal editors to increase the integrity and ethics of medical journal publishing,” her opinions, as we have covered before, usually leave no room for physician-industry collaboration or industry-academia collaboration. She has also maintained the perspective that industry support of continuing medical education (CME) and to medical societies should be explicitly prohibited.

She did help work with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) to come out with a uniform disclosure form and submission system, which will help resolve some of the confusion in reporting potential conflicts of interest. DeAngelis has also certainly made significant strides for JAMA during her tenure, such as instituting the requirement that industry-sponsored clinical trials must have an independent academic statistician to review all data before a manuscript can be accepted and published in JAMA.

In addition, during her tenure, JAMA’s impact Factor has also risen dramatically from 11.4 in 2000 to 28.9 in 2009. This has helped JAMA maintain its listing as one of the top three general medical journals in the world and highest for integrity.

Accordingly, with the American Medical Association (AMA) beginning its search for a new Editor-in-Chief for JAMA and the Archives journals, it would be in the best interest of patients, researchers and physicians to find a person who holds a more balanced view of the proper role industry should play in medicine. The search committee will be headed by JAMA Editorial Board member Ronald G. Evens, M.D., from Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis.    Other members of the search committee include representatives from the Journal Oversight Committee, the AMA’s Board of Trustees, AMA senior management, and JAMA/Archives. The AMA plans to have a new editor in place by July 1, 2011.   

At the very least, when choosing candidates, the AMA must find a person who acknowledges that without industry, medicine would be nowhere near where it is today. The future Editor must consider the impact collaboration with industry creates through improved training and education of doctors, and patient outcomes. Likewise, the future editor must be able to acknowledge that without industry’s financial support, the significant breakthroughs and discoveries in all aspects of healthcare we enjoy today would be almost nonexistent.

Similarly, the future Editor in a leading medical journal such as JAMA must address the numerous changes in ethical policies and the significant amounts of evidence that have showed the positive impact of physician-industry collaboration.   Additionally, policies such as the recently passed Sunshine Act provide enough transparency for the entire practice of medicine that if implemented properly, every payment from industry to a physician will be available for the public. And prior to its enactment, numerous companies had increased their transparency by posting payments to doctors and healthcare providers. These changes show the public the value of the services created by industry-physician collaboration.

In the end, the future Editor must foster and encourage collaboration between academia and industry in carrying out and publishing medical research. With these characteristics, the next Editor should strive to allow physicians, researchers, government and industry to collaborate together effectively, so that when data are disseminated to the public, our healthcare system and public health can continue to progress.