A conversation with Margaret McCartney, MD, PhD regarding evidence-based medicine and conflicts of interest

I have long followed the work of Dr. Margaret McCartney. She is a general practitioner in Glasgow, Scotland, writer, public speaker, and now PhD.

She is a fierce advocate for evidence-based medicine. She holds highly skeptical views of screening for disease—which, to my surprise is quite common in the UK.

Her recently finished PhD sought empirical evidence regarding declaration of conflicts of interest in the UK. Here is a link to the document. Screening for atrial fibrillation is a focus of this work.

Here is a link to her PubMed listing.

We had a nice conversation about all things evidence and conflicts. I learned a lot about the health system in the UK. As an added bonus, Dr. M is also an avid cyclist.

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