Financial perils at University of Minnesota Medical School follow years of big payouts in pursuit of faculty stars.

Read about it in the Strib.

Cary Nelson of AAUP to speak at University of Minnesota

Economic and Political Challenges to the Public University

Cary Nelson, President, American Association of University Professors

Discussants:
Sandra Pappas, State Senator, District 65
Carol Chomsky, Professor of Law, University of Minnesota

Friday, April 29, 2011
5:00 pm
Conference Rooms A, B, and C
Campus Club in Coffman Memorial Union

Will you please be quiet, please?

Alice Dreger writes about academic freedom and the Markingson case for The Bioethics Forum.

Update: Brian Leiter of the University of Chicago weighs in on Leiter Reports. 

Meanwhile on University Diaries, Margaret Soltan writes: "UM has so far just done some throat-clearing on the intimidation front, but it will eventually start bellowing. University Diaries will follow along as it finds its voice."

What about my money?

From a conversation between a GlaxoSmithKline rep and Dr. Zachary Stowe at Emory, reported by the Project on Government Oversight blog:

GSK Rep: I am sincerely sorry, but we will are going to have to cancel both programs scheduled for this Wed and Thur. in Wisconsin.

Dr. Stowe: What provisions do you propose for my compensation and lost time?

GSK Rep: (no response)

Dr. Stowe: I am willing to discuss modification of my compensation for the lost days e.g. renumeration for a single talk ($2,500) rather than the two scheduled.

GSK Rep: (no response)

Dr. Stowe: I have sent you 3 emails regarding the cancelled programs, and have yet to receive a reply….Simply you owe me a minimum of 2,500 for the first talk and 2,000 (since a spearate [sic] day should actually be 2,500) for the second talk, so you are still getting a $500 discount. This is a total of $4,500 that should be mailed asap.

GSK Rep: (no response)

Dr. Stowe to another GSK Rep: I do not want to be a prick, but given the time and frustration, I think she should arrange to pay me for both the talks as noted in my last email to her.

For background and a full explanation, read here.

Supreme Court to hear script-tracking case

Can Vermont limit the abilities of the pharma marketing business to track prescriptions?  Natasha Singer reports in the Times.

Pay no attention to the man behind the sock puppet

Too small to be a republic, too large to be an insane asylum

2011 Pfizer Fellow in Bioethics: Baruch Brody

Pfizer, a three-time felon which recently paid the largest criminal fine in American history, has awarded its 2011 Fellowship in Bioethics, worth $100,000, to Professor Baruch Brody of Baylor University.  His research topic? "Integrating Ethics into the Science of Behavior Change."  See the announcement here  For background, have a look at our previous post.

Sandel to speak on morals and markets at the U

"Morals, Markets and Civic Life after the Financial Crisis”

2011 Guy Stanton Ford Memorial Lecture

Michael J. Sandel, Harvard University

Do bankers deserve to make hundreds of times what school teachers earn? Is the free market fair? What have we learned from the financial crisis? What is the role of markets in achieving the public good? Sandel, author the New York Times best seller “Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?,” will provide a lively discussion of markets, democracy and the big ethical questions that confront American society today. The talk and Q&A will be followed by a book signing.

Date: 04/21/2011

Time: 12:15 PM - 1:30 PM

Location: Ted Mann Concert Hall

Cost: Free

Anatomy of the White House - PhRMA Deal, from the Sunlight Foundation

The fear of death drug?

In the novel White Noise, Don DeLillo imagined a pharmaceutical remedy for the fear of death.  He may have been closer to the truth than he knew.  Read about it here.

I am not here to hold your hand

Read it here.

Do genetic tests have the answers?

Lilly Fowler questions the value of genetic testing in the LA Times.

Blood and bones

Publisher's Weekly interviews Scott Carney about his forthcoming book, The Red Market: On the Trail of the World's Organ Brokers, Bone Thieves, Blood Farmers, and Child Traffickers. 

The Watch List: The medication of foster children

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

Insert joke here

Seroquel for everything, all the time

Is there any condition that cannot be treated with Seroquel?  AstraZeneca is conducting trials to treat blushing, social anxiety, anorexia, menopausal depression, PTSD, insomnia in Alzheimer's Disease, cocaine addiction, alcoholism, fibromyalgia, and smoking cessation, among other conditions.  Have a look at the list on the Soulful Sepulcher blog.

A sure bet in Vegas

How did a German device maker corner the market at a Las Vegas hospital?  The old-fashioned way: they bought the doctors.  Read about it in the Times.