Toward Equitable Innovation in Health and Medicine: A Framework (2023)
Chapter: Appendix E: Disclosure of Unavoidable Conflicts of Interest
Appendix E
Disclosure of Unavoidable Conflicts of Interest
The conflict-of-interest policy of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (https://www.nationalacademies.org/about/institutional-policies-and-procedures/conflict-of-interest-policies-and-procedures) prohibits the appointment of an individual to a committee like the one that authored this Consensus Study Report if the individual has a conflict of interest that is relevant to the task to be performed. An exception to this prohibition is permitted only if the National Academies determine that the conflict is unavoidable and the conflict is promptly and publicly disclosed.
When the committee that authored this report was established a determination of whether there was a conflict of interest was made for each committee member given the individual’s circumstances and the task being undertaken by the committee. A determination that an individual has a conflict of interest is not an assessment of that individual’s actual behavior or character or ability to act objectively despite the conflicting interest.
Dr. Amy Abernethy was determined to have a conflict of interest in relation to her service on the Committee on Creating a Framework for Emerging Science, Technology, and Innovation in Health and Medicine because she is president of product development and chief medical officer at Verily, a subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc. that focuses on the development of tools to use the increasing availability of health information and computing power to advance precision health. Dr. Abernethy also serves on the Board of EQRx, owns securities in 10x Genomics, Adaptive Bio, Beam Therapeutics, BeiGene, BridgeBio, Kura Oncology, and Organon, and holds an equity interest in Iterative Scopes.
Prof. R. Alta Charo was determined to have a conflict of interest in relation to her service on the Committee on Creating a Framework for Emerging Science, Technology, and Innovation in Health and Medicine because she is a consultant to several for-profit companies involved in the development of innovative products and services in the area of health and medicine, including Johnson & Johnson (on ethical trial design), Colossal Biosciences, and Gameto. She also serves on the ethics advisory boards of eGenesis and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Hana El-Samad was determined to have a conflict of interest in relation to her service on the Committee on Creating a Framework for Emerging Science, Technology, and
Innovation in Health and Medicine because she is a founding principal investigator of the biotechnology company Altos Labs and serves on the science advisory board of Sestina Bio.
Dr. Jianying Hu was determined to have a conflict of interest in relation to her service on the Committee on Creating a Framework for Emerging Science, Technology, and Innovation in Health and Medicine because she is an IBM fellow, director of Healthcare and Life Sciences Research, and global science leader of artificial intelligence for Healthcare at IBM Research.
In each case, the National Academies determined that the experience and expertise of the individual was needed for the committee to accomplish the task for which it was established. The National Academies could not find another available individual with the equivalent experience and expertise who did not have a conflict of interest. Therefore, the National Academies concluded that the conflict was unavoidable and publicly disclosed it on its website (www.nationalacademies.org).
