The Government's Rush To Judgment On Bernard Fisher's Work, Reputation

The Scientist, Vol:9, #23, pg.12 , November 27, 1995.
Author: Eugene Garfield











Most readers of The Scientist probably are familiar with the case of Bernard Fisher, the University of Pittsburgh professor who had directed the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) for more than two decades. Over that time, the 100 or so papers that resulted have demonstrated the usefulness of basic clinical regimens for treating these diseases and saving patients' lives. They have earned the project and Fisher the respect and acclaim of colleagues internationally, including a Lasker award.

But journalist John Crewdson of the Chicago Tribune reported on an Achilles' heel in NSABP. In this massive, multi-institutional, multinational, multimillion-dollar study funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Crewdson wrote in 1994, a Canadian member of the project had enrolled some 100 ineligible patients (J. Crewdson,...

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