JANUARY 8, 2008

GIMME AN SG!

My hometown paper the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) is crowing about the possibility of Sanjay Gupta MD being appointed the Surgeon General, saying that it might help Atlanta's "prestige". Emory University School of Medicine (where I am a Professor) is also crowing about the possibility as well. I am not from here originally, but the problem with Emory and Atlanta in general is that they have an inferiority complex (yes, that is my psychiatric diagnosis). I think it stems from the time when racial segregation was enforced here by a governor with a baseball bat and it kind of ruined their image, so they have been trying to make it up since with the Olympics, dumping Coke money in the university, etc. They probably are hoping for some good news on the cover of NYT and WSJ after the media debacle they have given birth to over the past few months regarding physician conflict of interest related to the pharmaceutical industry.

However then as now they should be paying more attention to form than substance. His main accomplishment besides performing neurosurgery in Iraq appears to be getting voted most sexiest man; hardly reassuring regarding Obama's attitude to healthcare in this country. Although he is an Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at Emory in terms of academic credentials he has published only four publications on pubmed, two of them case reports, not the kind of record that would get you promoted as a physician scientist as most universities. As for medical journalism, the journalists out there are no so thrilled with Gary Schwitzer writing that he was shocked by the nomination and not so favorable responses from Merrill Goozner at gooznews.

But perhaps the most disturbing news comes from Philip Dawdy at Furious Seasons, who writes that Gupta:

In his reporting he gives a rehash of press releases and doesn't do any critical analysis. It is mostly fluff and shilling for the pharmaceutical industry. So that is why in the spirit of the tradition of (not kidding) pharma recruiting cheerleaders to sell their drugs without regard for their qualifications or knowledge of science.

Gimme an Rx!

A cheerleader coach who was frequently approached by pharma recruiters listed what they were looking for in cheerleaders that would be useful for drug reps:

Hmmm! Now who does that remind you of...

I think Dr. Gupta should be nominated for...

Cheerleader in Chief for the Pharmaceutical Industry!

Dr. Gupta, Cheerleader in Chief for Pharma!

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