Day 254 - 22 May 96 - Page 08


     
     1        that you told me in America they put the most significant
     2        contributor last rather than the first, but is that
     3        completely misremembering?
     4        A.  No, no, my Lord, that ----
     5
     6   Q.   Whereas we do it the other way round?
     7        A.  In this country this happens too, in that if you have a
     8        group of investigators that the senior person often puts
     9        his name at the end.
    10
    11   Q.   Yes, but my knowledge of things in this country is that
    12        although he may be the most senior, he may not have done
    13        the essential work.  If it is one of his students, albeit a
    14        senior registrar who had many years under his belt, it
    15        would be passed in front of the consultant or the
    16        professor, who is also an honourary consultant in the
    17        department who makes suggestions and so on, and then it
    18        goes out with both their names, or the name of the team of
    19        about 3 or 4, so it may be that the most senior person's
    20        name is last but he or she may have contributed less to
    21        that particular piece of research than the junior ones; is
    22        that right?
    23        A.  I think that may be true, my Lord.  It very much
    24        depends on the work that is being done.  For example, if
    25        I am wanting to encourage my junior staff to get a
    26        publication, which is obviously terribly important in
    27        today's competitive world, I will say to them, "Look, we
    28        have been doing work" -- for example, I have got my
    29        registrar currently looking at treatment of pancreatic
    30        cancer, and so my registrar will do all the spade work, but
    31        I would be very much involved all the time in terms of the
    32        treatment of these patients.
    33
    34        Certainly in certain scientific work, laboratory work, the
    35        junior member will be certainly doing most of that, and you
    36        are right in that the senior member will be casting an
    37        informed eye over the paper.
    38
    39        But to go back to this study from the New England Journal
    40        of Medicine, I think this is such an important view, and in
    41        fact all the people taking part in it actually participated
    42        in the studies which they quote, so they are all quite
    43        senior people.
    44
    45   Q.   It is rather different to a small group within a particular
    46        hospital for instance?
    47        A.  Indeed, yes.
    48
    49   Q.   Yes, I understand.  I only asked because Ms. Steel was
    50        asking you about the reports which we have looked at which 
    51        Dr. Willett had produced in the past or two of them in 
    52        particular? 
    53        A.  Yes, certainly.
    54
    55   MS. STEEL:  In your second paragraph when you say "recently",
    56        you are referring there to since you last gave evidence;
    57        are you?
    58        A.  Not strictly speaking.  I think that, as I say, it was
    59        beginning to develop at the time when I last gave evidence,
    60        but I think that the controversy or the uncertainties has

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