Careful with the Drugs

Our Bodies Our Blog, discussing a NY Times article about the extent to which the drug industry influences medical education (specifically Harvard), pointed me to this nifty PharmFree Scorecard from the American Medical Student Association.*

The scorecard site, conveniently searchable by state and city, grades U.S. medical schools based on several components of Gifts/Industry Relations (gifts, consulting, speaking, disclosure) and Education (on campus, off campus, industry support, curriculum). 

Naturally I had to look up my own place of work, which received a B. There are a few As, a bunch of Bs, not many Cs, and a whole lot of Ds, Fs, and Incompletes. So a B is pretty good--woo hoo! 

I'd like to personally take credit for the university's good policies with regard to drug industry influence, but it would be immodest of me to claim any responsibility. 

Not to mention that it would be an insupportable assertion leaning right into a blatant lie. See, there are a lot of things I'd like to do that I refrain from; remember that if you ever hear anyone talking about how self-indulgent I am.

*I think that was a reasonably impressive number of links to put into a single sentence, right?