Mikkael A. Sekres, MD, MS and Brian J. Bolwell, MD have an OpEd on FoxNews of note as the issue they address goes beyond cancer patients and potentially affects all of us.
… Articles about cancer research in scholarly journals are the lifeblood of the fight against cancer. For doctors and researchers, flagship journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and The Lancet are critical for keeping up to date with the latest breakthroughs, establishing new standards of care, and improving treatments for patients.
In January, a proposal was put forward by the editors of these publications, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, that poses a serious threat to the privacy of patient data. In it, the editors would require that investigators of clinical trials make publically available within six months of publication de-identified (i.e., anonymous), individual patient data underlying the results presented in the trial.
Read more on FoxNews about the risks of re-identification and its impact on cancer patient privacy.