The UCF College of Medicine received praise Wednesday from a national association of medical students for its “model” conflict-of-interest policies regarding interactions between students and faculty members and the pharmaceutical and health-device industries.
The recognition was part of the American Medical Student Association’s (AMSA) “PharmFree Scorecard,” which evaluates conflict-of-interest policies at the nation’s 152 medical schools and colleges of osteopathic medicine. The UCF College of Medicine received a B on the scorecard, placing 27th out of 152 and scoring higher than Vanderbilt, Harvard and Duke university medical schools.
In announcing the 2010 Scorecard, the AMSA praised the UCF College of Medicine, saying, “The institution provides a model good policy document for a new college of medicine.” And in a conference call announcing the organization’s findings, scorecard director Tim Anderson, a third-year medical student at Case-Western Reserve University, said, “We were particularly impressed that this new school took the time to focus on conflict of interest and put in place very good policies.”
A cross-functional Industry Relations Team prepared the UCF College of Medicine policy. Team co-chairs were Diane Davey, M.D. and Jeanette Schreiber, J.D. Board members were Lori Boardman, M.D., Ralph Caruana, M.D., Debopam Chakrabarty, Ph.D., Alex Cole, Ph.D., Diane Jacobs, Ph.D., Rebecca Moroose, M.D., Mark Muller, Ph.D., Loren Nelson, M.D., Audrey Pike, J.D. and Scott Sumner, M.B.A.
“I am pleased that we, as a new medical school, have been recognized for creating a strong conflict of interest policy,” said Dr. Deborah German, UCF vice president for medical affairs and dean of the College of Medicine. “It is particularly exciting to be ranked higher than all of my alma maters! As we focus on excellence in education, research, patient care and community service, integrity must be the cornerstone of everything we do. A dedicated team with a focus on integrity worked hard to achieve this level of success for our new college of medicine.”