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
