- Email: [email protected]
Bullying at Barts
Correspondence
I must write to you concerning the disgraceful personal attack on our Dean for Research at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry (March 24, p 1086).1 You did not even have the good grace—or courage—to mention his name, but he is of course Professor Tom MacDonald, the internationally respected gut immunologist. It is untrue that MacDonald is responsible for the process working its way through the school. This was initiated by myself as Warden some time ago, and the process has been scrutinised and passed by the Council of Queen Mary University of London, our parent College. The Dean is acting on these policies. When I came to this medical school in 2001, it was in a parlous state: drastic surgery was required to balance the books and to provide headroom for recruitment. In your piece there was no mention of the success that the medical and dental school has since enjoyed, which has been widely publicised, even in your own pages.2 In the face of government funding, continued excellence demands the continued employment of only the highest quality staff. Your vindictive and scurrilous attack on MacDonald is inexplicable: he is implementing policies introduced by this medical school in an attempt to maintain its success; perhaps you would like to have a go at me as well. Of course, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that MacDonald was, and is, a major critic of the now retracted paper on measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine published by The Lancet in 1998.3 I was Warden of Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry from 2001 to 2011.
Nick Wright [email protected] Centre for Digestive Diseases, Blizard Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 2AD, UK
www.thelancet.com Vol 379 April 21, 2012
1 2 3
Horton R. Offline: Bullying at Barts. Lancet 2012; 379: 1086. Wilkinson E. UK doctors hail research excellence results. Lancet 2009; 373: 368–70. Wakefield AJ, Murch SH, Anthony A, et al. RETRACTED: Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. Lancet 1998; 351: 637–41.
journal, this obviously personal, vindictive, and vitriolic attack is both unprofessional and beneath the high standards The Lancet has set for itself. I declare that I have no conflicts of interest.
Published Online April 13, 2012 DOI:10.1016/S01406736(12)60575-3
Stuart McDonald [email protected]
I read with considerable dismay your Offline column regarding alleged bullying at Barts and the London School of Medicine and its role in the restructuring of the college.1 The restructuring process has been an uncomfortable time at the college, but it does not represent, nor is indicative of, a “pretty horrible culture at the medical school”: in fact many would suggest that this has been too long in coming. I have no knowledge of Clive Seale’s situation, nor do I wish to comment on it, but to single out our Dean of Research as a “bully boy” is wrong and to say he is discredited is nothing short of scandalous. I have known the Dean personally for many years in my role in this college and I can assure you he is hugely respected as our Dean for research, and for the manner in which he managed the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, which took this medical and dental school from nowhere to fourth in the country in terms of quality (grade point average). And as for the statement “leaving the Dean’s own performance open to deservedly critical scrutiny”, this is risible in the extreme: he is an internationally respected immunologist working at the highest level. The Dean is merely applying the methods proposed by the medical school management and approved by Queen Mary College Council. Consequently, to pick him out for criticism in this disgraceful manner is quite iniquitous. Each and every faculty member of the college was assessed in this process and from my own personal point of view it was done fairly. Finally, I think that although reporting on an important state of affairs at a UK medical college is within the remit of a high-impact UK medical
Centre for Digestive Diseases, Blizard Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 2AD, UK 1
Horton R. Offline: Bullying at Barts. Lancet 2012; 379: 1086.
Morley von Sternberg/QMUL
Bullying at Barts
Paediatric hospitalacquired bacteraemia in developing countries Although Alexander Aiken and colleagues (Dec 10, p 2021),1 address an important issue, I have a few major concerns about their paper on the risk and causes of paediatric hospitalacquired bacteraemia. First I am surprised that Aiken and colleagues excluded coagulasenegative staphylococci so hastily as a contaminant. In the developing world, such organisms constitute 12% of all Gram-positive organisms that cause hospital-acquired infection in neonates, and 17% of those in all agegroups.2,3 Although often regarded as contaminants, coagulase-negative staphylococci can cause systemic instability resulting in temporary cessation of enteral feeding or escalation of ventilatory support, and are associated with longer hospital stay and poorer overall outcome, especially in neonates.4 With the growing infrastructure of paediatric and neonatal intensive-care units and increasing survival of low birthweight babies in developing countries, these organisms will definitely become more important, as they are in developed countries currently. Second, Aiken and colleagues have calculated weight-for-age Z scores using National Centre for Health Statistics (NCHS) reference data. This
Published Online April 13, 2012 DOI:10.1016/S01406736(12)60576-5
Submissions should be made via our electronic submission system at http://ees.elsevier.com/ thelancet/
1483
I must write to you concerning the disgraceful personal attack on our Dean for Research at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry (March 24, p 1086).1 You did not even have the good grace—or courage—to mention his name, but he is of course Professor Tom MacDonald, the internationally respected gut immunologist. It is untrue that MacDonald is responsible for the process working its way through the school. This was initiated by myself as Warden some time ago, and the process has been scrutinised and passed by the Council of Queen Mary University of London, our parent College. The Dean is acting on these policies. When I came to this medical school in 2001, it was in a parlous state: drastic surgery was required to balance the books and to provide headroom for recruitment. In your piece there was no mention of the success that the medical and dental school has since enjoyed, which has been widely publicised, even in your own pages.2 In the face of government funding, continued excellence demands the continued employment of only the highest quality staff. Your vindictive and scurrilous attack on MacDonald is inexplicable: he is implementing policies introduced by this medical school in an attempt to maintain its success; perhaps you would like to have a go at me as well. Of course, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that MacDonald was, and is, a major critic of the now retracted paper on measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine published by The Lancet in 1998.3 I was Warden of Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry from 2001 to 2011.
Nick Wright [email protected] Centre for Digestive Diseases, Blizard Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 2AD, UK
www.thelancet.com Vol 379 April 21, 2012
1 2 3
Horton R. Offline: Bullying at Barts. Lancet 2012; 379: 1086. Wilkinson E. UK doctors hail research excellence results. Lancet 2009; 373: 368–70. Wakefield AJ, Murch SH, Anthony A, et al. RETRACTED: Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. Lancet 1998; 351: 637–41.
journal, this obviously personal, vindictive, and vitriolic attack is both unprofessional and beneath the high standards The Lancet has set for itself. I declare that I have no conflicts of interest.
Published Online April 13, 2012 DOI:10.1016/S01406736(12)60575-3
Stuart McDonald [email protected]
I read with considerable dismay your Offline column regarding alleged bullying at Barts and the London School of Medicine and its role in the restructuring of the college.1 The restructuring process has been an uncomfortable time at the college, but it does not represent, nor is indicative of, a “pretty horrible culture at the medical school”: in fact many would suggest that this has been too long in coming. I have no knowledge of Clive Seale’s situation, nor do I wish to comment on it, but to single out our Dean of Research as a “bully boy” is wrong and to say he is discredited is nothing short of scandalous. I have known the Dean personally for many years in my role in this college and I can assure you he is hugely respected as our Dean for research, and for the manner in which he managed the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, which took this medical and dental school from nowhere to fourth in the country in terms of quality (grade point average). And as for the statement “leaving the Dean’s own performance open to deservedly critical scrutiny”, this is risible in the extreme: he is an internationally respected immunologist working at the highest level. The Dean is merely applying the methods proposed by the medical school management and approved by Queen Mary College Council. Consequently, to pick him out for criticism in this disgraceful manner is quite iniquitous. Each and every faculty member of the college was assessed in this process and from my own personal point of view it was done fairly. Finally, I think that although reporting on an important state of affairs at a UK medical college is within the remit of a high-impact UK medical
Centre for Digestive Diseases, Blizard Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 2AD, UK 1
Horton R. Offline: Bullying at Barts. Lancet 2012; 379: 1086.
Morley von Sternberg/QMUL
Bullying at Barts
Paediatric hospitalacquired bacteraemia in developing countries Although Alexander Aiken and colleagues (Dec 10, p 2021),1 address an important issue, I have a few major concerns about their paper on the risk and causes of paediatric hospitalacquired bacteraemia. First I am surprised that Aiken and colleagues excluded coagulasenegative staphylococci so hastily as a contaminant. In the developing world, such organisms constitute 12% of all Gram-positive organisms that cause hospital-acquired infection in neonates, and 17% of those in all agegroups.2,3 Although often regarded as contaminants, coagulase-negative staphylococci can cause systemic instability resulting in temporary cessation of enteral feeding or escalation of ventilatory support, and are associated with longer hospital stay and poorer overall outcome, especially in neonates.4 With the growing infrastructure of paediatric and neonatal intensive-care units and increasing survival of low birthweight babies in developing countries, these organisms will definitely become more important, as they are in developed countries currently. Second, Aiken and colleagues have calculated weight-for-age Z scores using National Centre for Health Statistics (NCHS) reference data. This
Published Online April 13, 2012 DOI:10.1016/S01406736(12)60576-5
Submissions should be made via our electronic submission system at http://ees.elsevier.com/ thelancet/
1483