Remember how in high school, we would put each other down, and make rude comments about each other. As we got older, we became much more aware that “we are not that important.”
Apparently Katherine DeAngelis, M.D., Editor of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), has not learned that lesson or at least has forgotten it for the time being.
Last week in an interview with a Wall Street Journal reporter she called Jonathan Leo, a Professor of Neuro-Anatomy at the not so famous Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn., “This guy is a nobody and a nothing” she said of Leo. “He is trying to make a name for himself. Please call me about something important.” She added that Leo “should be spending time with his students instead of doing this.”
When asked if she called his superiors and what she said to them, DeAngelis said “it is none of your business.” She added that she did not threaten Leo or anyone at the school.
The cause of her animosity is that Professor Leo, after not getting answers from JAMA, published a letter in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) complaining about a small, but undisclosed conflict of interest, in a clinical trial published in JAMA.
This caused the leadership at JAMA to go into overdrive in an effort to discredit the professor. First, the Deputy Editor of JAMA called Professor Leo to let him know that he was "banned from publishing in JAMA for life." (This is like calling your local high school principal and banning him from leadership at Harvard for life, the chances of that happening anyway are quite small and that is an empty promise at best.)
The comments and attacks on Professor Leo are the academic equivalent of the Macaca comment that Senator George Allen made during the 2006 election campaign, or the comments by Don Imus about the Rutgers Womens’ Basketball team . (Neither of which were angry, just stupid, JAMA editors seem to be guilty of both.)
Well, the reaction on The Wall Street Journal Blog, has been visceral, with over 75 comments and none defending her actions (apparently no one likes a bully).
Perhaps it is time for Dr. DeAngelis to join the former editors’ club, she will have lots of company and can speak across the country for high fees on the ills of medicine.
But if you are a nothing or nobody you can always go back to teaching neuro-anatomy or working like the rest of us.