Freelance contributors

Adrian O’Dowd works as a freelance medical journalist, writer, editor, and press officer. In this capacity, he has been paid, and continues to be paid, by a wide range of organisations for providing these skills on a professional basis. These include: NHS organisations including the Patient Safety Research Portfolio, the National Institute for Health Research SDO Programme, Department of Health’s Race for Health Programme, and others; publishers, including the BMJ group, Emap Inform (Health Service Journal, Nursing Times and Local Government Chronicle), The Guardian newspaper, RCN Publishing Company, Beechwood House Publishing (OnMedica website), and others; professional organisations, including the NHS Confederation, NHS Employers, The King’s Fund, Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland (MDDUS), Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM), and others; and public/private partnership information agency Dr Foster Intelligence and others. He has no stock options or shares in any pharmaceutical or healthcare companies.

Aser García Rada, M.D., Ph.D. works as a paediatrician, freelance journalist, actor, set doctor and medical consultant for film and TV. He worked for the Hospital Infantil Universitario Niño Jesús (2008-2013), a public metropolitan hospital, and has worked and continues to work fors everal public primary care centers of Madrid (2011-nowadays) being paid by the Government of the Community of Madrid (Spain). He is a member of the Spanish Society of Pediatric Emergencies (Sociedad Española de Urgencias de Pediatría, SEUP). He worked as a delegate of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies being paid by the Spanish Red Cross (2015 and 2016). He has been paid by the journal Jano (Elsevier), the newspapers Público and La Razón and the journal La Marea. He has been paid and continues to be paid by the online newspaper eldiario.es and The BMJ. He was a member of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) World Health Youth Environment and Health Communication Network (WHY). He has been paid as a temporary adviser for the WHO regarding communication, health and environment. He has been paid expenses by the European Commission for attending different meetings on EU health policies. He was a member of the Spanish National Health Journalist Association (Asociación Nacional de Informadores de la Salud, ANIS) (2008-2013) and is a member of the Spanish Association of Science Communication (Asociación Española de Comunicación Científica, AECC). He has collaborated with a campaign calling for legalizing euthanasia in Spain of the Spanish Association Right to Die With Dignity (Asociación Derecho a Morir Dignamente, DMD) (2015) He has no stock options or shares in any pharmaceutical or healthcare companies. As an actor, set doctor and medical consultant for film and TV he has been paid, and may continue to be paid, by a wide range of agents.

Bob Roehr is a semi-retired independent biomedical journalist who writes for a variety of trade and consumer publications. He also writes HIV education and training materials for a large group of community-based organizations coordinated by Fenway Health in Boston. He has no recent compensation or investment ties to biomedical, insurance, or health delivery companies, though he does receive modest dividends from a technology stock (IBM) that has a health division, which was inherited from family.

Last updated March 2019

Bryan Christie works as a freelance medical journalist, editor, and media consultant. He has been commissioned to do work in this capacity for a number of organisations. These include various departments of the Scottish Government; NHS Education for Scotland; NHS Quality Improvement Scotland; the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh; the Royal College of General Practitioners in Scotland; the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Dementia Services Development Centre at the University of Stirling; and the British Medical Association in Scotland. He has no stock options or shares in any pharmaceutical or healthcare companies, however he invests in a personal pension, which may invest in these types of companies.

Competing interests
Chris Baraniuk is a freelance science journalist based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His work has been published by the BBC, New Scientist, Scientific American, Smithsonian Magazine, The Scientist, Mosaic (Wellcome Trust) and other publications. He has no stock options or shares in any pharmaceutical or healthcare companies.

Competing interests

1) Have you in the past five years accepted the following from an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the results of your study or the conclusions of your review, editorial, or letter?

a) Reimbursement for attending a symposium?
No
b) A fee for speaking?
No
c) A fee for organising education?
>No
d) Funds for research?
No
e) Funds for a member of staff?
No
f) Fees for consulting?
No

2) Have you in the past five years been employed by an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the results of your study or the conclusions of your review, editorial, or letter?
No

3) Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the results of your study or the conclusions of your review, editorial, or letter?
No

4) Have you acted as an expert witness on the subject of your study, review, editorial, or letter?
No

5) Do you have any other competing financial interests? If so, please specify.

No

Competing interests
Clare Gerada is a former chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, a partner of the Hurley Group, and shareholder of eConsult. She is a non-executive director at University College London Hospitals and a member of the General Medical Council’s independent inquiry on gross negligence manslaughter. She is also chair of Doctors in Distress, a charity committed to reducing suicide rates among medical doctors. In November 2021, she will become the President of the Royal College of General Practitioners. She is an independent advisor to the board of Cygnet Health Care.

In addition to being a full time NHS consultant, David Oliver is a visiting fellow at the King's Fund, visiting professor at City University London, president of the British Geriatrics Society, and clinical vice president of the Royal College of Physicians of London. He has never taken money for private practice, paid consultancy, or speakers fees. He does receive a freelance columnist fee for "Acute Perspective," but the views expressed are his own, and no organisation with which he is affiliated has any control over the content of his columns.

Competing interests
I have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and have no relevant interests to declare.

Competing interests
I am a GP partner, I teach medical students at Oxford University and St Anne’s College, Oxford, and I answer readers’ medical problems for Take A Break magazine. I am a member of Independent SAGE.

Jacqui Thornton works as a freelance health journalist for newspapers, websites and medical publications. She is also a visiting lecturer at City University London, teaching health and science journalism to MA students. She has received travel and accommodation expenses to enable her to report internationally, such as a media scholarship to the AIDS conference in Durban in 2016, and to the Union Lung conference in 2017. She also works as a writer, moderator, communications trainer and speaker. In this capacity, she has been paid by a wide range of organisations for providing these skills on a professional basis. These include NHS trusts; the General Medical Council; pharmaceutical companies, including Ipsen and BMS and others; PR/communications agencies; and charities/NGOs including the Disasters Emergency Committee and Care International UK. She is a director of Jacqui Thornton Communications Limited, the company name under which she provides writing and communications services.

Last updated March 2019

Jeanne Lenzer is an independent journalist and a former senior clinical policy analyst for The Institute of Family Health, New York. In these capacities and as an occasional medical editor, she has been paid by many outlets, including The BMJ, New York Times, Washington Post, Smithsonian, Discover, The Atlantic, Scientific American and Mother Jones among many other outlets. She has received speaker’s fees and travel expenses from academic and professional physician groups and journalism organizations. She does not accept pay or gratuities from drug or device makers, health insurance companies, or attorneys. Over two decades ago, she was paid by the New York State Office of Professions for case reviews related to physician assistant practice and once by an attorney to review a PA’s duty of care related to a lawsuit. She does not have any known investments in pharma or device manufacturers but does have a modest retirement account with TIAA – a retirement fund for academics and teachers.

Last updated October 2021

Competing interests
I have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: I’m an NHS GP partner, with income partly dependent on Quality and Outcomes Framework points. I’ve written two books and earn from broadcast and written freelance journalism. I’m an unpaid patron of Healthwatch. I make a monthly donation to Keep Our NHS Public. I’m a member of Medact. I’m occasionally paid for time, travel, and accommodation to give talks or have locum fees paid to allow me to give talks but never for any drug or public relations company. I was elected to the national council of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 2013 and am chair of its standing group on overdiagnosis. I invested a small amount of money in a social enterprise, Who Made Your Pants?, which went into receivership in 2015.

Michael Cross is a freelance journalist, editor, and lecturer. In this capacity, he has been paid, and continues to be paid, by a range of organisations for providing these skills on a professional basis. These include: publishers, including the BMJ group, Guardian Media, the Daily Telegraph and others; professional organisations, including the Law Society and National Association of Data Protection Managers, and companies including Deloitte LLP and Microsoft. He contributes a regular column to a healthcare website published by Microsoft. He owns no stock options or shares in any pharmaceutical, IT, or healthcare companies, however he invests in a personal pension, which may invest in these types of companies. He is managing director of Michael Cross Limited, the company name under which he provides writing services. He publishes a regularly updated declaration of interests at www.michaelcrossjournalist.net.

Michael Day is a freelance journalist who covers Italy for the Independent newspaper, as well as writing on health and science for other newspapers and magazines. In the past he has provided consultancy services to the health PR firms Burson Marsteller, Chandler Chicco, Cohn and Wolfe, and others. He has no stock options or shares in any pharmaceutical, healthcare or PR companies.

Competing interests

1) Have you in the past five years accepted the following from an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the results of your study or the conclusions of your review, editorial, or letter?

a) Reimbursement for attending a symposium?
No
b) A fee for speaking?
No
c) A fee for organising education?
No
d) Funds for research?
No
e) Funds for a member of staff?
No
f) Fees for consulting?
No

2) Have you in the past five years been employed by an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the results of your study or the conclusions of your review, editorial, or letter?
No

3) Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the results of your study or the conclusions of your review, editorial, or letter?
No

4) Have you acted as an expert witness on the subject of your study, review, editorial, or letter?
No

5) Do you have any other competing financial interests? If so, please specify.

No

Owen Dyer is a freelance journalist who has written news and features for newspapers and for medical journals including the BMJ and Canadian Medical Association Journal. He has no health-related investments, grants, or other competing interests.

Last updated March 2019

Competing interests
I am national specialty adviser for diabetes with NHS England.

Susan Mayor works as a freelance medical journalist, video editorial director and presenter, and communications trainer. In this capacity, she has been paid, and continues to be paid, by a wide range of organisations for providing these skills on a professional basis. These include: NHS organisations, including NHS Choices, NHS Kidney Care, and others; publishers and medical education companies, including the BMJ group, the Lancet group, Medscape and others; professional organisations, including the British Thoracic Oncology Group, the European Society for Medical Oncology, NCEPOD and others; charities and patients’ organisations, including the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation and others; pharmaceutical companies, including Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, and others; and communications agencies, including 90Ten, Publicis, and others. She has no stock options or shares in any pharmaceutical or healthcare companies, however she invests in a personal pension, which may invest in these types of companies. She is managing director of Susan Mayor Limited, the company name under which she provides medical writing and communications services.

Last updated March 2019

Stephen Armstrong is a journalist and author. He is paid to write about technology, medicine, science, politics and culture for Wired, the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph amongst others. He has written books on the private security industry, the rise of oligarchs in the developing world and poverty in the UK. He is a trustee of the Orwell Foundation, a fellow of the RSA and a consultant to the think tank Engage Britain. He owns no stock options or shares in any pharmaceutical, IT, or healthcare companies. He has a personal pension, which may invest in these types of companies.

Last updated March 2019

Tony Sheldon works as a freelance medical journalist and editor and author of non-fiction books on the Netherlands during the Second World War. In this capacity, he has been paid or continues to be paid, by several organisations for providing these skills on a professional basis. These include: the BMJ group, Kosmos publishers, Utrecht, and individual researchers attached to the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (Nivel), the University Medical Centre Utrecht, and the Dutch Healthcare Inspectorate. He has no stock options or shares in any pharmaceutical or healthcare companies, however he invests in a personal pension, which may invest in these types of companies.

Last updated March 2019