Public education
As a fellow at Harvard University's Center for Ethics and the Professions, Steven Joffe, M.D., is a close observer of the complexities of medical research.
Mayer: "Do you think the medical establishment can provide hope in a realistic, educating manner and avoid the pitfalls of hype? I usually find the best guide for patients is a physician they trust."
Eric Winer, M.D., director of the Breast Oncology Center: "Whether it's print or electronic media, one problem is that while there is an important distinction between laboratory findings and findings from clinical trials, it all ends up being reported with the same kind of emphasis. One of the important things for us to do is try to make those distinctions clear — both to the people writing the stories and those who read or see them."
Ann Partridge, M.D., Department of Adult Oncology: "If we could better educate the public about how research goes from the lab to the clinics, there would be a lot less false hope and more real hope. That's what the public wants."
Lisa Diller, M.D., Department of Pediatric Oncology: "Maybe if we took it as our responsibility to instruct or to try to entice the media to do stories on what a clinical trial is [see page 10] and how long a clinical trial takes — instead of just results and breakthroughs — we'd get different outcomes."
Austin: "The issue is what patients are led to believe when they're given an opportunity to participate in a clinical trial. As an immunologist, I've witnessed a lot of therapeutic promises. We've had Interferon, monoclonal antibodies, and other treatments that held great promise, and we've also had many disappointed patients."
- Next: Physicians and patients: A changed dynamic
- Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
