Although I bemoan prepublication peer review, I do a fair bit of reviewing. I’m never quite sure why, but it’s probably that I’m still insufficiently practised at saying no. I […]
Columnists
Martin McShane: Consciously unconscious
I was in a meeting last week with the seven chairs of the new consortia, two other executives from the new PCT cluster, and an external consultant who was giving […]
Tracey Koehlmoos: Non-communicable diseases and bringing the fishbowl to Bangladesh
I am not going to lie. I love planning conferences and meetings although as a serious scientist, I do not think I am supposed to think and feel this way, […]
Richard Smith: What is post publication peer review?
I’ve been tramping from stage to stage arguing that pre publication peer is slow, expensive ($1.8 billion a year), ineffective, biased, and anti-innovatory and should be dumped in favour of […]
Martin McShane: Patients as customers
Sometimes you get a sense of cultural change: someone tells you a story and simultaneously you think “that’s a good idea” and “times they are a changin’.” […]
David Kerr: Angry bird medicine
“I want this company to be bigger than Sanofi-Aventis in ten years time” was the opening line from a (successful) entrepreneur I met the other day. He might be right […]
Sandra Lako: Oxygen for the feeding centre
Last week Monday the final four oxygen concentrators from the “Operation Oxygen” campaign made it to Ola During Children’s Hospital. Thanks to all of you who contributed generously to this […]
Richard Smith: Might copies of PLoS ONE change journals forever?
I continue to be amazed that despite the appearance of the internet, which some have compared with the invention of fire, our methods for disseminating scientific studies are essentially the […]
Martin McShane: A confusion of choice.
I chaired the specialised commissioning group last week which was fascinating (and intense work). Ranged around the table were people skilled and experienced in public health, planning, procurement, finance, and […]
Tiago Villanueva: Does medicine cater for a truly “global” career?
I was inspired during medical school by Mark Wilson’s “Medics’s guide to work and electives around the world,” which conveys the core idea that medicine can be a “passport to […]