ATA Watch
Founded in March 2005 as Project THAMES (Transparency in HIV Authorship, Medical Education and Scientific Investigation) and renamed in September 2008 as the AIDS Transparency & Accountability Watch, ATA Watch grew out of nearly 20 years' experience in the world of AIDS activism, research, clinical care and education from what appeared to be a growing need for research, advocacy and medical education free of the quid pro quo funding of drug & device companies and the medical communications (PR) companies which serve to broaden and camouflage their reach.While fully acknowledging the contributions of the for-profit pharmaceutical and diagnostics industry to improvements in the medical management of HIV/AIDS, ATA Watch believes that in the time since 1996 a commercial imperative to increase sales has not always coincided with the patient's best interest.
In the near term, full transparency of any and all potentially competing outside commercial interests among researchers, educators, thought leaders and conference program committees is the least onerous of proposals to date that would provide some form of ethical oversight. Longer term, elimination of financial exchanges in all forms--including speaking fees, honoria for attending dinner lectures, symposia, conferences or Grand Rounds, consulting & advisory board arrangements, funds for physician travel, service on speakers bureaus, provision of funds for continuing medical education programs, monies for research contracts--is our goal.
(cf. Brennan TA, Rothman DJ, Blumenthal D et al. "Health industry practices that create conflicts of interest: A proposal for reform." JAMA 2006;295:429-433.)
(cf. Submitted Statement, to the Institute of Medicine, on behalf of the Center for Science in the Public Interest--March 13, 2008)
In the interim, ATA Watch will to standardize disclosure requirements at journals, medical education programs, professional societies, conference program committees and government bioscience entities, and to advocate for more effective monitoring and evaluation.
ATA Watch is a non-profit 501c(3) public education & advocacy organization.
The ATA Watch Team
Mike Barr, Founder & Director
Jaye Foucher, Web design & programming
Cindy Ly, Legal assistant
Peter Calmishiel, FOIA specialist
Natalie Belanger, Research intern
Summer Interns
Erin Altenburger (New York University)
Zainab Awelenje (Rutgers University School of Global Affairs)
Yael Friedman (Scripps College)
Jamie Harary (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Board of Directors
Diana Ramirez, MD
North Bronx Healthcare Network
Albert Einsten College of Medicine
Montefiore Medical Center
Bronx, NY
Jesus Aguais
Founder & Executive Director
Aid for AIDS
New York, NY
Mauricio Zacharias
Screenwriter
New York, NY
Honorary Advisory Board
Larry Kramer
Author, playwright, activist
Sean O. Strub
Founder, Poz magazine
David Harris
Vanity Fair
Michael Liberatore
Clinical Psychologist
Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center
Mary Catherine George
Mt. Sinai School of Medicine
Joseph A. Sonnabend, MD
Retired physician, researcher & community activist
London, England
ATA Watch thanks Tom Viola and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS for their generous and reliable support.