Contact:
David Foreman
434.924.2242
davidforeman@virginia.edu
UVA School of Medicine Posts on the Internet All External Financial Interests of Faculty
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., October 21, 2009 - The University of Virginia School of Medicine has made public the reported external financial interests of its more than 1,200 faculty members as the next step in its campaign to ensure transparency in all physician relationships.
"The School of Medicine believes that synergistic interactions with industry partners can be beneficial to all parties involved and recognizes that external financial interests do not equate conflicts of interest," says Steven T. DeKosky, M.D., Vice President and Dean of the UVA School of Medicine. "We believe this information will provide assurance that our patient care, educational experiences, and research activities are devoid of any improper influence from external entities."
Consistent with its Conflict of Interest and Conflict of Commitment Policy, the School of Medicine posted on the internet the financial interests reported by faculty for calendar year 2008. The information is available at: http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/research/data2008.cfm. This site will be updated when the 2009 reporting period has been completed.
The site reports ownership interests in medically relevant entities over 3 percent. Reported "income over $10,000" is broken out into several areas: participation in a corporate speakers' bureau, participation on a corporate advisory board, other consulting activities, and non-consulting income. The site also lists each principal investigator's name and industry sponsor for research awards active during that calendar year.
A year ago, the UVA School of Medicine and the UVA Medical Center instituted a comprehensive policy banning all gifts, meals, and promotional items given to trainees, employees, and faculty by vendors and contractors associated with the Health System. With the public disclosure of faculty members' external financial interests, the UVA School of Medicine joins a handful of other institutions that are providing this information to the public.
DeKosky says the School of Medicine also has restricted some external activities, prohibiting faculty participation in corporate speakers' bureaus beginning in 2009.
"We are attempting to make our policies as simple as possible to eliminate any questions among our faculty, external entities, our patients, our trainees, and the community-at-large, to ensure complete transparency with all of our relationships," DeKosky explains. "We review all contracts and agreements between our faculty members and outside organizations to identify and, if necessary, eliminate, reduce, or manage any conflicts of interest."
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