Marketing the Research Missions of Academic Medical Centers: Why Messages Blurring Lines Between Clinical Care and Research Are Bad for both Business and Ethics.

Academic Medical Centers (AMCs) offer patient care and perform research. Increasingly, AMCs advertise to the public in order to garner income that can support these dual missions. In what follows, we raise concerns about the ways that advertising blurs important distinctions between them. Such blurring is detrimental to AMC efforts to fulfill critically important ethical responsibilities pertaining both to science communication and clinical research, because marketing campaigns can employ hype that weakens research integrity and contributes to therapeutic misconception and misestimation, undermining the informed consent process that is essential to the ethical conduct of research. We offer ethical analysis of common advertising practices that justify these concerns. We also suggest the need for a deliberative body convened by the Association of American Medical Colleges and others to develop a set of voluntary guidelines that AMCs can use to avoid in the future, the problems found in many current AMC advertising practices

Health Misinformation and the Power of Narrative Messaging in the Public Sphere

Numerous social, economic and academic pressures can have a negative impact on representations of biomedical research. We review several of the forces playing an increasingly pernicious role in how health and science information is interpreted, shared and used, drawing discussions towards the role of narrative. In turn, we explore how aspects of narrative are used in different social contexts and communication environments, and present creative responses that may help counter the negative trends. As traditional methods of communication have in many ways failed the public, changes in approach are required, including the creative use of narratives

Health Misinformation and the Power of Narrative Messaging in the Public Sphere

Numerous social, economic and academic pressures can have a negative impact on representations of biomedical research. We review several of the forces playing an increasingly pernicious role in how health and science information is interpreted, shared and used, drawing discussions towards the role of narrative. In turn, we explore how aspects of narrative are used in different social contexts and communication environments, and present creative responses that may help counter the negative trends. As traditional methods of communication have in many ways failed the public, changes in approach are required, including the creative use of narratives.De nombreuses pressions sociales, économiques et académiques peuvent avoir un impact négatif sur les représentations de la recherche biomédicale. Nous passons en revue plusieurs des éléments qui jouent un rôle de plus en plus pernicieux dans l’interprétation, le partage et l’utilisation de l’information sur la santé et les sciences; ce qui nous mène à nous intéresser au rôle du récit. Par conséquent, nous explorons comment les aspects narratifs sont utilisés dans divers contextes sociaux et environnements de communication, puis présentons des réponses novatrices susceptibles de contribuer à contrer les tendances négatives. Comme les méthodes de communication traditionnelles ont échoué à bien des égards auprès du public, des changements d’approche s’imposent, dont l’utilisation novatrice des récits