Dive Brief:
- A controversial New York Times Magazine advertisement has raised conflict of interest concerns at the University of Illinois.
- The full-page ad, paid for by Intuitive Surgical, endorses the company and its da Vinci surgical robot, featuring a photo of a dozen university employees in lab coats.
- A top administrator at the university says in a report that the school needs to clarify and strengthen its rules about potential employee conflicts of interest.
Dive Insight:
As they were posing for this picture, did anyone think this might not be a good idea? The report by Larry Schook, the Illinois university’s vice president for research, also says that the employees in the ad failed to obtain proper approval to participate in the ad, though they believed it would raise the visibility of their own robot surgery program. They were not disciplined for appearing in the ad. Also, Schook said, the university lacks a policy about employee participation in ads for private companies. The Chicago Tribune, which broke the story, reported that some of the university doctors in the advertisement did not initially disclose their financial ties to Intuitive Surgical, as required by the university.