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{{Short description|British medical doctor, editor, and businessman}}
{{For|the American journalist|Richard Mills Smith}}
{{For|the American journalist|Richard Mills Smith}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
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'''Richard Smith''' [[CBE]] [[FMedSci]] is a British [[medical doctor]], editor, and businessman.
'''Richard Smith''' [[CBE]] [[FMedSci]] is a British [[medical doctor]], editor, and businessman.


He is director of the Ovations initiative to combat chronic disease in the developing world.<ref>"[https://www.ovationshealth.com/online_documents/ovation/pdf/oh/5-3-07_chronic_disease_initiative.pdf Ovations, a UnitedHealth Group Company, announces global partnership to stem the growth of chronic disease]", May 2007. Retrieved 13 February 2009.</ref> The initiative is funding centres in China, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Tunisia, Tanzania, South Africa, Central America, and the US Mexico border. He is also chairman of the board of directors of [[Patients Know Best]].
He is the director of the UnitedHealth Chronic Disease Initiative at [[Emory University]] (which grew out of the UnitedHealth “Ovations initiative”),<ref>"[https://www.ovationshealth.com/online_documents/ovation/pdf/oh/5-3-07_chronic_disease_initiative.pdf Ovations, a UnitedHealth Group Company, announces global partnership to stem the growth of chronic disease]", May 2007. Retrieved 13 February 2009.</ref> which together with the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has created 11 centres in low and middle income countries that work on non-communicable disease.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Emory University Public Health and Leadership Academy |url=https://ph-leader.emory.edu/people/bio-section-faculty/smith_r.html}}</ref>


Smith also serves as chair of the [[Cochrane (organisation)|Cochrane]] Library Oversight Committee and a member of the UK Panel on Research Integrity.<ref name=":0" /> Additionally, he is currently chairman of the board of directors of [[Patients Know Best]].
⚫
Previously he was chief executive of UnitedHealth Europe, a subsidiary of the [[UnitedHealth Group]] that works with public health systems in Europe. Before that he was editor of the ''[[BMJ]]'' (previously the ''British Medical Journal''), and chief executive of the [[BMJ Group]]. Smith worked for the ''BMJ'' for twenty-five years, from 1979 to 2004, the last thirteen as editor.


⚫
Previously he was chief executive of UnitedHealth Europe, a subsidiary of the [[UnitedHealth Group]] that works with public health systems in Europe. Before that, from 1991 to 2004, he served as both editor-in-Chief of the ''[[BMJ]]'' (previously the ''British Medical Journal''), and chief executive of the [[BMJ Group]]. Smith worked for the ''BMJ'' for twenty-five years, from 1979 to 2004.<ref name=":0" />
⚫
Smith is a proponent of [[open access publishing]]. He was editor of the ''BMJ'' when the journal first moved to online publishing, and made the journal's archives freely available. He sits on the board of directors of the [[Public Library of Science]],<ref>[http://www.plos.org/about/board.html Plos board of directors] {{dead link}}</ref> an open access publisher of scientific and medical research. He was editor in chief of the open-access ''[[Cases Journal]]'', which aimed to create a database of medical [[case report]]s.


⚫
Smith is a proponent of [[open access publishing]]. He was editor of the ''BMJ'' when the journal first moved to online publishing, and made the journal's archives freely available. He sits on the board of directors of the [[Public Library of Science]],<ref>[http://www.plos.org/about/board.html Plos board of directors] {{dead link|date=March 2023}}</ref> an open access publisher of scientific and medical research. He was editor in chief of the open-access ''[[Cases Journal]]'', which aimed to create a database of medical [[case report]]s.
⚫
He is an honorary professor at the [[University of Warwick]] and a member of the governing council of St George's, University of London.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.patientsknowbest.com/about-us.html | title = Patients Know Best | accessdate = 16 January 2012}}</ref>


⚫
He is an honorary professor at [[Imperial College London]] and the [[University of Warwick]]<ref name=":0" /> and a member of the governing council of St George's, University of London.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.patientsknowbest.com/about-us.html | title = Patients Know Best | accessdate = 16 January 2012}}</ref>
⚫
He is a founding Fellows of the [[Academy of Medical Sciences]], elected in 1998.


⚫
He is a founding Fellow of the [[Academy of Medical Sciences]], elected in 1998.
⚫
Having qualified in medicine in the [[University of Edinburgh]], he worked in hospitals in Scotland and New Zealand before joining the BMJ. He also worked for six years as a television doctor with the BBC and TV-AM<ref>''The Trouble with Medical Journals'', page 4, (2006, {{ISBN|1-85315-673-6}})</ref> and has a degree in management science from the [[Stanford Graduate School of Business]].


⚫
Having qualified in medicine in the [[University of Edinburgh]], he worked in hospitals in Scotland and New Zealand before joining the BMJ. He also has a degree in management science from the [[Stanford Graduate School of Business]].
⚫
Smith is the author of the book ''The Trouble with Medical Journals'' (2006, {{ISBN|1-85315-673-6}}), in which he contends that medical journals have become "creatures of the drug industry", rife with fraudulent research and packed with articles ghost written by [[pharmaceutical]] companies.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Smith R |title=The trouble with medical journals |journal=J R Soc Med |volume=99 |issue=3 |pages=115–9 |date=March 2006 |pmid=16508048 |pmc=1383755 |doi=10.1177/014107680609900311 }} [http://jrsm.rsmjournals.com/cgi/content/full/99/3/115 Free full text] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090902124436/http://jrsm.rsmjournals.com/cgi/content/full/99/3/115 |date=2 September 2009 }}.</ref> He has also written about the limitations and problems of the peer review process.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Richard |title=Peer review: a flawed process at the heart of science and journals |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine |date=April 2006 |volume=99 |issue=4 |pages=178–182 |doi=10.1258/jrsm.99.4.178 |pmid=16574968|pmc=1420798 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Smith R |title=In Search of an Optimal Peer Review System |journal=J Participat Med|issue=Launch |date=October 2009 |url=http://www.jopm.org/opinion/2009/10/21/in-search-of-an-optimal-peer-review-system/}}</ref> In 2014, in an interview with ''[[New Scientist]]'', he argued for criminalisation of research fraud.<ref>Nuwer R., "[https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329864.100-its-time-to-criminalise-serious-scientific-misconduct.html It's time to criminalise serious scientific misconduct]", ''New Scientist'', 2986: 27 (15 September 2014).</ref>

Smith worked for six years as a television doctor with the BBC and TV-AM.<ref>''The Trouble with Medical Journals'', page 4, (2006, {{ISBN|1-85315-673-6}})</ref> He has published in dozens of medical journals, written widely in the lay press and currently blogs regularly for the BMJ. He has received three awards for journalism.<ref name=":0" />

⚫
Smith is the author of the book ''The Trouble with Medical Journals'' (2006, {{ISBN|1-85315-673-6}}), in which he contends that medical journals have become "creatures of the drug industry", rife with fraudulent research and packed with articles ghost written by [[pharmaceutical]] companies.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Smith R |title=The trouble with medical journals |journal=J R Soc Med |volume=99 |issue=3 |pages=115–9 |date=March 2006 |pmid=16508048 |pmc=1383755 |doi=10.1177/014107680609900311 }} [http://jrsm.rsmjournals.com/cgi/content/full/99/3/115 Free full text] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090902124436/http://jrsm.rsmjournals.com/cgi/content/full/99/3/115 |date=2 September 2009 }}.</ref> He has also written about the limitations and problems of the peer review process.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Richard |title=Peer review: a flawed process at the heart of science and journals |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine |date=April 2006 |volume=99 |issue=4 |pages=178–182 |doi=10.1258/jrsm.99.4.178 |pmid=16574968|pmc=1420798 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Smith R |title=In Search of an Optimal Peer Review System |journal=J Participat Med|issue=Launch |date=October 2009 |url=http://www.jopm.org/opinion/2009/10/21/in-search-of-an-optimal-peer-review-system/}}</ref> In 2014, in an interview with ''[[New Scientist]]'', he argued for criminalisation of research fraud.<ref>[[Rachel Nuwer|Nuwer R.]], "[https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329864.100-its-time-to-criminalise-serious-scientific-misconduct.html It's time to criminalise serious scientific misconduct]", ''New Scientist'', 2986: 27 (15 September 2014).</ref>


His brother is comedian [[Arthur Smith (comedian)|Arthur Smith]].{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}
His brother is comedian [[Arthur Smith (comedian)|Arthur Smith]].{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}


==Views on cancer==
==Views on cancer==
In December 2014, Smith wrote on the BMJ blog that trying to find a cure for cancer was a waste of money, claiming that, "with love, morphine, and whisky", the disease is the best way to die.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Smith|first1=Richard|title=Dying of cancer is the best death|url=http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2014/12/31/richard-smith-dying-of-cancer-is-the-best-death/|work=BMJ|date=31 December 2014}}</ref>
In December 2014, Smith wrote on the ''BMJ'' blog that trying to find a cure for cancer was a waste of money, claiming that, "with love, morphine, and whisky", the disease is the best way to die.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Smith|first1=Richard|title=Dying of cancer is the best death|url=http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2014/12/31/richard-smith-dying-of-cancer-is-the-best-death/|work=BMJ|date=31 December 2014}}</ref>
His remarks provoked outrage.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/elaineschattner/2015/01/05/why-yes-we-should-treat-cancer/ |title=Why Yes, We Should Treat Cancer|first= Elaine |last=Schattner|work=[[Forbes]] |date=5 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2015/jan/21/cancer-research-bmj-richard-smith-chemotherapy-chemo |title=Cancer is not a merciful killer – the research billions are well spent| first= Larry |last=Rees| work=[[The Guardian]] |date=21 January 2015}}</ref> The British Medical Journal said:
His remarks provoked outrage.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/elaineschattner/2015/01/05/why-yes-we-should-treat-cancer/ |title=Why Yes, We Should Treat Cancer|first= Elaine |last=Schattner|work=[[Forbes]] |date=5 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2015/jan/21/cancer-research-bmj-richard-smith-chemotherapy-chemo |title=Cancer is not a merciful killer – the research billions are well spent| first= Larry |last=Rees| work=[[The Guardian]] |date=21 January 2015}}</ref> The ''British Medical Journal'' said:
<blockquote>Smith’s New Year’s Eve blog on thebmj.com about cancer offering the best death garnered global media coverage and triggered a social media storm from thousands of bereaved relatives and the parents of children with cancer. He was accused of “glibly glossing over the pain” of cancer, to quote Michael Broderick, one of the 173 respondents on thebmj.com.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h393.short|title= Going gently into that good night: what is the best death?|journal=BMJ|volume=350|page=h393|doi=10.1136/bmj.h393|date=23 January 2015|first1=Kelly |last1=Brendel | first2=David |last2=Payne|pmid= 25616275|s2cid= 31905394}}</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>Smith’s New Year’s Eve blog on thebmj.com about cancer offering the best death garnered global media coverage and triggered a social media storm from thousands of bereaved relatives and the parents of children with cancer. He was accused of "glibly glossing over the pain" of cancer, to quote Michael Broderick, one of the 173 respondents on thebmj.com.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h393.short|title= Going gently into that good night: what is the best death?|journal=BMJ|volume=350|page=h393|doi=10.1136/bmj.h393|date=23 January 2015|first1=Kelly |last1=Brendel | first2=David |last2=Payne|pmid= 25616275|s2cid= 31905394}}</ref></blockquote>


Smith responded and tried to clarify some of his points in a follow-up blog post on 5 January.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Smith|first1=Richard|title=The death debate: a response from Richard Smith|url=http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2015/01/05/death-a-response-from-richard-smith/|work=BMJ|date=5 January 2015}}</ref>
Smith responded and tried to clarify some of his points in a follow-up blog post on 5 January.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Smith|first1=Richard|title=The death debate: a response from Richard Smith|url=http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2015/01/05/death-a-response-from-richard-smith/|work=BMJ|date=5 January 2015}}</ref>

Revision as of 01:16, 17 June 2024

For the American journalist, see Richard Mills Smith.

Richard Smith CBE FMedSci is a British medical doctor, editor, and businessman.

He is the director of the UnitedHealth Chronic Disease Initiative at Emory University (which grew out of the UnitedHealth “Ovations initiative”),[1] which together with the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has created 11 centres in low and middle income countries that work on non-communicable disease.[2]

Smith also serves as chair of the Cochrane Library Oversight Committee and a member of the UK Panel on Research Integrity.[2] Additionally, he is currently chairman of the board of directors of Patients Know Best.

Previously he was chief executive of UnitedHealth Europe, a subsidiary of the UnitedHealth Group that works with public health systems in Europe. Before that, from 1991 to 2004, he served as both editor-in-Chief of the BMJ (previously the British Medical Journal), and chief executive of the BMJ Group. Smith worked for the BMJ for twenty-five years, from 1979 to 2004.[2]

Smith is a proponent of open access publishing. He was editor of the BMJ when the journal first moved to online publishing, and made the journal's archives freely available. He sits on the board of directors of the Public Library of Science,[3] an open access publisher of scientific and medical research. He was editor in chief of the open-access Cases Journal, which aimed to create a database of medical case reports.

He is an honorary professor at Imperial College London and the University of Warwick[2] and a member of the governing council of St George's, University of London.[4]

He is a founding Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, elected in 1998.

Having qualified in medicine in the University of Edinburgh, he worked in hospitals in Scotland and New Zealand before joining the BMJ. He also has a degree in management science from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Smith worked for six years as a television doctor with the BBC and TV-AM.[5] He has published in dozens of medical journals, written widely in the lay press and currently blogs regularly for the BMJ. He has received three awards for journalism.[2]

Smith is the author of the book The Trouble with Medical Journals (2006, ISBN 1-85315-673-6), in which he contends that medical journals have become "creatures of the drug industry", rife with fraudulent research and packed with articles ghost written by pharmaceutical companies.[6] He has also written about the limitations and problems of the peer review process.[7][8] In 2014, in an interview with New Scientist, he argued for criminalisation of research fraud.[9]

His brother is comedian Arthur Smith.[citation needed]

Views on cancer

In December 2014, Smith wrote on the BMJ blog that trying to find a cure for cancer was a waste of money, claiming that, "with love, morphine, and whisky", the disease is the best way to die.[10] His remarks provoked outrage.[11][12] The British Medical Journal said:

Smith’s New Year’s Eve blog on thebmj.com about cancer offering the best death garnered global media coverage and triggered a social media storm from thousands of bereaved relatives and the parents of children with cancer. He was accused of "glibly glossing over the pain" of cancer, to quote Michael Broderick, one of the 173 respondents on thebmj.com.[13]

Smith responded and tried to clarify some of his points in a follow-up blog post on 5 January.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Ovations, a UnitedHealth Group Company, announces global partnership to stem the growth of chronic disease", May 2007. Retrieved 13 February 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Emory University Public Health and Leadership Academy".
  3. ^ Plos board of directors [dead link]
  4. ^ "Patients Know Best". Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  5. ^ The Trouble with Medical Journals, page 4, (2006, ISBN 1-85315-673-6)
  6. ^ Smith R (March 2006). "The trouble with medical journals". J R Soc Med. 99 (3): 115–9. doi:10.1177/014107680609900311. PMC 1383755. PMID 16508048. Free full text Archived 2 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ^ Smith, Richard (April 2006). "Peer review: a flawed process at the heart of science and journals". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 99 (4): 178–182. doi:10.1258/jrsm.99.4.178. PMC 1420798. PMID 16574968.
  8. ^ Smith R (October 2009). "In Search of an Optimal Peer Review System". J Participat Med (Launch).
  9. ^ Nuwer R., "It's time to criminalise serious scientific misconduct", New Scientist, 2986: 27 (15 September 2014).
  10. ^ Smith, Richard (31 December 2014). "Dying of cancer is the best death". BMJ.
  11. ^ Schattner, Elaine (5 January 2015). "Why Yes, We Should Treat Cancer". Forbes.
  12. ^ Rees, Larry (21 January 2015). "Cancer is not a merciful killer – the research billions are well spent". The Guardian.
  13. ^ Brendel, Kelly; Payne, David (23 January 2015). "Going gently into that good night: what is the best death?". BMJ. 350: h393. doi:10.1136/bmj.h393. PMID 25616275. S2CID 31905394.
  14. ^ Smith, Richard (5 January 2015). "The death debate: a response from Richard Smith". BMJ.
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