LMU-DCOM prof kicks some JAMA fanny

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
👍 Thanks for posting. Pretty shocking.
 
I'm glad Dr. Leo approached this...Studies need to be made as transparent as possible to ensure integrity of the research we base our practice on.
 
So, instead of taking criticisms the correct way and trying to improve the accuracy of information, JAMA tries to threaten and crush them for questioning something? Seems kind of contradictory to the pursuit of knowledge and constant improvement of one's business.
 
MossPoh said:
So, instead of taking criticisms the correct way and trying to improve the accuracy of information, JAMA tries to threaten and crush them for questioning something? Seems kind of contradictory to the pursuit of knowledge and constant improvement of one's business.
Click to expand...

👍
 
Dr. Leo was one of my neuroanatomy professors before he left COMP. He's outspoken and a truthteller. Was sad to see him go.

JAMA's wrong on this, in every way.
 
Nice, good find!

Dr. Leo was one of the original professors here at LECOM-Br a few years ago and I've only heard great things about him. Good for him.

So, what part of "peer-reviewed" does JAMA not understand??
 
Dr. Leo is one of my favorite professors I've ever had. He's very smart and extremely effective at communicating is point across. I always know I'm going to learn something important from his lectures.

Nice to see him sticking up for what he believes is right.
 
He seems to bounce from DO school to DO school all over the country (Western -> LECOM-B -> LMU-COM). I wonder why??
 
Vergie said:
Dr. Leo is one of my favorite professors I've ever had. He's very smart and extremely effective at communicating is point across. I always know I'm going to learn something important from his lectures.

Nice to see him sticking up for what he believes is right.
Click to expand...

He is definitely the greatest professor I have had thus far

JaggerPlate said:
He seems to bounce from DO school to DO school all over the country (Western -> LECOM-B -> LMU-COM). I wonder why??
Click to expand...

Dr. Lenz and Dr. Kiick! Those 3 travel as a pack
 
JaggerPlate said:
He seems to bounce from DO school to DO school all over the country (Western -> LECOM-B -> LMU-COM). I wonder why??
Click to expand...

If you had him as a prof., you would understand. If I were running a school, I would want Dr. Leo as a prof as well as Dean of Students, which he is at LMU-DCOM. He is extremely good, one of, if not, the best prof. I have ever had in my entire education. I would recruit Dr. Leo with everything I have, and I hope the LMU-DCOM will do everything in their power to keep him on staff in the future. In addition, he was at Western for a number of years, then went to LECOM-B when they started, and then LMU-DCOM recruited him when they started. Nothing suspicious there, so I hope that wasn't the assumption you were trying to point to.


I have always been very proud of having Dr. Leo at LMU-DCOM, and now I am even more proud. He is extremely dedicated to each and every student and I am glad to see the other testimonies on here. He IS the man and very worthy of the Professor of the Year Award he received from LMU-DCOM last year. It's sad to see JAMA acting so unprofessional and I hope to see an apology written very soon. It's funny to see such a "tiny" school make such a big fuss at one of the world's largest medical journals. :meanie: :highfive:
 
JAMA to limit public disclosures of conflicts of interest during investigation.

In the Wall Street Journal (3/23) Health Blog, David Armstrong wrote that the Journal of the American Medical Association "says it is adopting a new policy under which anyone asserting that study authors have failed to disclose conflicts of interest should keep the matter confidential until JAMA investigates." The decision comes after Jonathan Leo, a professor of neuro-anatomy at Lincoln Memorial University, "published a letter in another medical journal, BMJ, that highlighted an unreported conflict of interest in a study published by JAMA."
According to Bloomberg News (3/23, Cortez), the journal's new policy "was introduced in an editorial published online on March 20." Catherine DeAngelis, editor-in-chief of JAMA, and Phil Fontanarosa, executive deputy editor, stated that "in the future, whistleblowers must provide a detailed, written explanation of conflicts and provide documents to support their conclusions." Leo had initially reported that "a researcher studying Forest Laboratories Inc.'s Lexapro (escitalopram oxalate) preventing depression in stroke patients failed to disclose previous work for the drug company" to "JAMA in October 2008 after the journal confirmed that being on a speakers' bureau of a pharmaceutical company would constitute a conflict of interest that should be declared."
Commenting on the journal's new policy, Leo stated that it is "'an infringement of academic freedom,' noting that the information he reported...was freely available on the Internet," MedPage Today (3/23, Gever) noted. But, "the editorial did not specify what punishment the journal would mete out to future whistleblowers who violate the new gag rule,"
 
An excellent summary of the whole fiasco can be found here.

Leo keeps looking better and JAMA keeps looking worse.
 
People running JAMA have no idea how to deal with this situation. That editor is getting the boot for sure.
 
nascardoc said:
If you had him as a prof., you would understand. If I were running a school, I would want Dr. Leo as a prof as well as Dean of Students, which he is at LMU-DCOM. He is extremely good, one of, if not, the best prof. I have ever had in my entire education. I would recruit Dr. Leo with everything I have, and I hope the LMU-DCOM will do everything in their power to keep him on staff in the future. In addition, he was at Western for a number of years, then went to LECOM-B when they started, and then LMU-DCOM recruited him when they started. Nothing suspicious there, so I hope that wasn't the assumption you were trying to point to.

I have always been very proud of having Dr. Leo at LMU-DCOM, and now I am even more proud. He is extremely dedicated to each and every student and I am glad to see the other testimonies on here. He IS the man and very worthy of the Professor of the Year Award he received from LMU-DCOM last year. It's sad to see JAMA acting so unprofessional and I hope to see an apology written very soon. It's funny to see such a "tiny" school make such a big fuss at one of the world's largest medical journals. :meanie: :highfive:
Click to expand...

No, no not at all. I really wasn't hinting at anything ... I was just wondering why he moved around. Sorry if anyone mistook it as a quip.
 
JaggerPlate said:
No, no not at all. I really wasn't hinting at anything ... I was just wondering why he moved around. Sorry if anyone mistook it as a quip.
Click to expand...

There's quite a few faculty from Western there - Leo, Kiick, Routman, Lenz. They drew each other there.
 
tkim said:
There's quite a few faculty from Western there - Leo, Kiick, Routman, Lenz. They drew each other there.
Click to expand...

Yep that's accurate, faculty from other schools like NYCOM, MSU, UNECOM, PCOM are here too..so the whole myth of a new DO school really is overblown when you consider the fact that its all about who runs the school.
 
I can't believe the editor of such an esteemed journal would say something like that.
 
dermpathdoc said:
Guess this just solidifies my decision to quit being an AMA member...they don't seem to have thier brains coinciding with thier mouths.
Click to expand...

Hey now, should we throw the baby out with the bathwater?
Let me just suggest that we stay AMA members and raise hell when appropriate. Unless there's a really compelling reason to leave, in which I'm listening. But I figure it's harder to effect change if I DON'T belong to the organization I wish would change.

PS- Do they refund our dues for future years if we bail out?
 
Styria said:
And now the AMA steps in...

Medical Group Seeks Probe of Its Journal
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link.

Is it just me or does anybody else find this statement a little "shady":

The (JAMA) editors said that, going forward, anyone complaining of an author failing to report a conflict of interest will "be specifically informed that he/she should not reveal this information to third parties or the media while an investigation is under way."
Click to expand...
 
Rollo said:
Thanks for the link.

Is it just me or does anybody else find this statement a little "shady":
Click to expand...

In my opinion, it isnt shady. While I certainly understand one's right to inform the public of such "allegations", it only seems fair for JAMA to have the opportunity to fully investigate claims BEFORE the "whistle-blower" goes off and attempts to "expose" JAMA as if they are not investigating the claim. I can certainly see how that can be viewed as unprofessional and counter-productive.

From the tone of Dr. DeAngelis' editorial, it seems that JAMA felt Dr. Leo "jumped the gunn" by going to the media before they could effectively investigate his claim.
 
Last edited:
Wow. Just...wow.

This has to be the best thread I've read on SDN in a while.

Major kudos to Dr. Leo. He seems like an amazing professor. I'm jealous.

If more people in the profession had even half the cajones of this professor, we'd all be a lot better off.

👍👍👍👍👍
 
I agree with Malda, this is a great thread. Please keep updating it with David Armstrong's blog.
And I'm glad the AMA is stepping in, I don't think it's a foregone conclusion at all that they're going to side with the editor on this one. I think once their investigation is complete, we're going to see a retraction of some statements made by JAMA, at the very least.
 
This thread by far is my favorite!! I love these installments, and David Armstrong kicks ass for following up on this.
I'm waiting to hear the AMA's next step in this matter after having said they were going to investigate.
 
They're connected through the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology.
 
The Virginian said:
Before anyone gets too carried away take a look at ...

http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/breggin.html
Click to expand...

Side-stepping the Breggin-controversy for a moment...

I personally think it behooves physicians to be vigilant for safe alternatives to pharmacology treatment and that mindset or behavior shouldn't be discouraged, or deemed fringe. I'm not sure who it benefits to treat it as such. If I someday can offer dietary recommendations that result in a calming effect in a child who meets the criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD, and he/she is able to grow out of it, then that's good, right? If not, there's a wealth of pharmacological Plan B's, C's, D's, etc.
No therapy is going to work for every person, and that seems to be the great challenge of clinical medicine.

Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2002 Dec 28;146(52):2543-7.
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a standard elimination diet can decrease the ADHD-symptoms in a heterogeneous group of young children with ADHD. DESIGN: Open, descriptive. METHOD: 40 children, 36 boys and 4 girls, aged 3-7 (average 4.8 years), who met the DSM-IV-criteria for ADHD, followed their usual diet for two weeks and thereafter for two weeks an elimination diet, based on the few foods diet (rice, turkey, pear and lettuce). The behaviour of the child was evaluated at study entry, after the baseline period and at the end of the diet. Parents completed the 10-item Conners list, the ADHD Rating Scale and a physical complaints list. The teachers completed the 10-item Conners list and the ADHD Rating Scale twice, at the beginning and at the end of the diet. RESULTS: According to the parent-ratings, 25 children (62%) showed an improvement in behaviour of at least 50% on both the Conners list and the ADHD Rating Scale at the end of the elimination diet. Nine children (23%) withdrew from the study because the parents were unable to stick to the diet or because the child fell ill. Among the 15 children with both parent and teacher ratings, 10 responded both at home and in school. CONCLUSION: In young children with ADHD an elimination diet can lead to a statistically significant decrease in symptoms.
PMID: 12532668 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

(Small n, parent evaluated/rated, but still has some valid implications)
 
JasonS said:
I can't believe the editor of such an esteemed journal would say something like that.
Click to expand...

Even if he didn't, and we believe the spokeswoman's story, disagreeing with anything in JAMA is apparently supposed to be a "confidential process within JAMA". Is it still "peer-reviewed" if all the peer-reviews are kept secret?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

TheBoneDoctah
Graduated Ortho Residency. Have some free time if anyone has questions.
Replies
9
Views
1K
TheBoneDoctah
TheBoneDoctah
T
Another DO Matching Ortho Thread With Some DR Advice
Replies
4
Views
3K
typhoon1
T
Rogue42
  • Locked
LMU-DCOM fires Dean over support for social change, thoughts?
2 3
Replies
122
Views
19K
PapaGuava
PapaGuava
OddBroccoli
Considering HPSP and need some advice regarding loans.
Replies
9
Views
2K
levimikey
L
Mr.Smile12
HPSA/SDN GenAI survey in health professions programs
Replies
0
Views
956
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
Top