Use of the Johns Hopkins Name
The announcement in April that Johns Hopkins Medicine
had collaborated with a cosmetics company marketing a new
line of skin treatment products under the name Cosmedicines
triggered a public outcry. People asked how a venerable and
respected organization like Johns Hopkins could choose to
work in an industry that has traditionally sold its
products more on image than on substance.
Rather than dwell on the specifics of this
relationship, I would like to ask readers to step back and
consider what the guidelines should be for determining when
Johns Hopkins should enter into a relationship with
for-profit corporations in any industry. And when, in
particular, should we allow companies to cite Johns Hopkins
in any of their promotional literature?
This particular relationship made headline news. But
there are other companies that have touted relationships
with Johns Hopkins — and it is not clear if in all
these situations our name was used in a way that was
officially sanctioned by us.
Nor can we expect to exert control in all situations.
Even when the university does not allow the use of its
name, many of our faculty may nevertheless have consulting
relationships with companies. Occasionally a faculty member
may endorse a product without compensation, and the company
will cite the faculty member's role as a Johns Hopkins
professor as a sort of Good Housekeeping Seal of
Approval.
There are serious issues here worthy of discussion and
debate within the Johns Hopkins community. First among them
is how to deal with institutional conflicts of interest. We
have developed a pretty effective system to identify and
work through conflicts of interest that involve
individuals. But mechanisms for identifying and resolving
conflicts that involve the university in a relationship
with an outside entity are still poorly defined.
In what situations is it proper to allow outside
groups to use the Johns Hopkins name? While this might seem
easily decided, closer examination reveals that short of a
100 percent prohibition, any other approach involves a lot
of subtleties. If our faculty members conduct a study
sponsored by the NIH and report findings in a peer-reviewed
journal, a pharmaceutical company is free to cite the
report (and the Hopkins connection) without any prior
approval from the university. On the other hand, if the
research is sponsored by a pharmaceutical company, in what
circumstances would we allow the company to cite the
research, even if the results themselves are not
published?
If you ever lived in the greater Boston area, you may
have signed up for care with the Harvard Community Health
Plan. While this managed care organization was, as I
understand it, initiated by Harvard Medical School faculty
physicians, many of the doctors, nurses and staff providing
the care and administrative support were not Harvard
faculty or employees of the university. Was that an
appropriate use of the Harvard name?
We had the same discussion when the Johns Hopkins
Health Plan, which was providing care in East Baltimore,
was sold to an insurance company that retained the name.
Would patients expect that they were being treated by Johns
Hopkins faculty physicians?
In his book Universities in the Marketplace,
Derek Bok, a past and currently the interim president of
Harvard, describes the increasing trend toward
commercialization of university activities, from Nike
endorsements for athletic teams to technology licensing. He
believes that the shift in emphasis calls into question the
essential purpose of the university and wonders if our
historic mission of education, research and service is
likely to be compromised by the newer focus on commercial
relationships. Having attended this year's NCAA Final Four
in Indianapolis, I can attest to how significantly
commercial interests have altered the face of Division I
basketball.
Over the next few months, the board of trustees and I
will be discussing commercialization, institutional
conflicts and the use of the Johns Hopkins name. If you
have thoughts about any of these important issues, I would
appreciate hearing from you.
William R. Brody is president of The Johns Hopkins
University. A version of this essay first appeared in
Change, a newsletter published for the medical
faculty.
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