Maurie Markman, MD

Maurie Markman, MD

Maurie Markman, MD, is president of Medicine & Science at City of Hope Atlanta, Chicago, and Phoenix

Articles by Maurie Markman, MD

The recent technological advances in medicine and related fields have encouraged a belief among many that there is little technology will not be able to accomplish in improving cancer-related clinical outcomes, but it must be acknowledged that clinical medicine and cancer biology are extremely complex arenas.

The term statistically significant is almost certainly beautiful music to the ears of clinical investigators and pharma/biotech companies. However, concern develops when one inquires how the most common test of significance, the P value, is used in clinical investigative efforts and whether at times this is more harmful than helpful within the domain of cancer medicine.

The model of an independent and self-regulating academic medical community continues to be challenged through widely reported accusations of serious scientific misconduct, failure of investigators to report potential financial conflicts of interest, and suggestions of inadequate transparency related to the questionable role of academic researchers in the analysis and reporting of industry-sponsored clinical trial results.