The University is considering revising its conflict of interest policy for research in light of increased collaboration between University researchers and private companies.
About 20 faculty members attended a forum yesterday to share opinions with the University Conflict of Interest Review Board on three major areas: research sponsorship by entities in which faculty members have financial interests, CEO positions held by faculty and disclosure policies.
Reassessment of the University's conflict of interest policy follows changes instituted by the National Institutes of Health in August. By next August, any faculty funded by the Public Health Service will be required to make information about their conflicts of interest accessible to the public.
Forum participants generally agreed the University could be doing more to encourage faculty to collaborate with industry and to form their own companies.
The University's stated core values include promotion of local and state economic development and sharing research with the public, said Jeffrey Morgan, associate professor of medical science.
But the language of the current conflict of interest policy discourages faculty from these activities, said Roberto Tamassia, professor of computer science and chair of the department. Tamassia's computer science colleagues feel that "Brown is not the place to start the next Google," he said. There is a perception that Brown's conflict of interest policy is very strict because of negative language in the policy, he said.
But the University's policy is more flexible than Stanford's or MIT's, said Regina White, associate vice president for research.
The committee is aware that the phrase "conflict of interest" has a negative connotation, said Christopher Bull, senior research engineer, senior lecturer and member of the committee. It is looking for a different name but "can't find the right words," he said.
The forum then moved to the topic of faculty members serving as CEOs of private companies. Morgan brought up the difference between conflicts of interest and conflicts of commitment. There are other detractions from faculty members' time, such as family matters and illnesses, that are not considered conflicts, he said.
A music professor might have a band on the side or a literature professor might also run a literary magazine, said Mark Suchman, professor of sociology. Morgan and Suchman agreed it is not the title of CEO that matters but instead whether the faculty member is able to fulfill his or her duties, including attending department meetings, teaching classes and being on campus four days a week.
But Gerald Diebold, professor of chemistry, wanted to know how these faculty members could be distinguished from "dropouts" who decide that they are only going to show up for their classes and do nothing else. Bull answered that the committee does not look at non-financial activities and is not trying to create a general policy for conflicts of commitment.
The current policy of mandatory disclosure requires that faculty members disclose their conflicts of interest to students who are working on the faculty member's research. The committee proposed that the chair of the faculty member's department also have access to this disclosure.
Most of the faculty present at the forum agreed with this change. But Diebold and Suchman were not in favor of a blanket policy. Diebold said in chemistry, the chair position changes frequently. Suchman pointed out that it might create unnecessary awkwardness between colleagues — say, if one owned land on which gas exploration was being done and the other was involved in environmental research.
The policy and review board exist to address circumstances in which faculty members may have financial interests that may compromise the objectivity of their research and the University's mission. "There's nothing wrong with conflicts of interest," said Clyde Briant, vice president for research, but the conflicts need to be monitored and managed.
The committee has only dealt with one or two troubling cases since it was created four years ago, said Rod Beresford, professor of engineering and committee member.
