Alvan Feinstein
Alvan Feinstein | |
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Born | Alvan Richard Feinstein December 4, 1925 epidemiologist |
Alvan R. Feinstein (December 4, 1925 – October 25, 2001) was an American clinician,
Born in
In 1962, Feinstein joined the
He published his first paper as a medical student in 1951 and more than 400 throughout his career. He wrote six major textbooks, two of which, Clinical Judgment (1967) and Clinical Epidemiology: The Architecture of Clinical Research (1985) are among the most widely referenced books in clinical epidemiology. He completed the last one, Principles of Medical Statistics (2002), just before his death. At the time of his death he was the Sterling Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, the Yale School of Medicine's most prestigious academic position.[6][7] His editorial work included founding the Journal of Chronic Diseases (1982–1988) which he edited and which he along with co-editor Walter O. Spitzer re-entitled as Journal of Clinical Epidemiology which he continued to co-edit with Walter O. Spitzer until his death.[8]
Awards and honors
During his career, Feinstein garnered numerous recognitions and awards; including the
In 2002 the American College of Physicians established the Alvan R. Feinstein Memorial Award, which is awarded every other year. The award is "given to an American physician who has made a major contribution to the science of patient care in activities that Dr. Feinstein has broadly defined as clinical epidemiology or clinimetrics, involving the direct study of patients' clinical conditions."[9]
Relationship with the tobacco industry
In his later years, controversy marred his career with claims that he may have helped the tobacco industry by publishing articles minimizing the deleterious effects of smoking.[10] He was funded by the Council for Tobacco Research, established by the tobacco industry with the aim to attack scientific studies that put tobacco in a bad light, as early as 1964.
A review of Feinstein's publications in 2002 concluded that "perhaps in hindsight Feinstein could be criticized for not having clearly indicated the sponsorship of the tobacco industry behind these publications, of which he was fully aware. However, this does not suffice to infer that he was the tobacco industry's man. Feinstein's attitude in matters of publication appears balanced".[11] However, this review, an invited article written soon after Feinstein's death and published in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, may not be unbiased. For the fourteen years preceding his death, Feinstein was Editor in Chief and of this journal. Still during those years from 1988 through 2001, he authored only one publication in that journal that concerned the topic of smoking or tobacco and only then tangentially.[12] Yacht and Bialous claim a commentary Feinstein published in 1992 in Toxicologic Pathology defended the tobacco industry but failed to mentioned he received grant funding from the tobacco industry.[10] The commentary was in fact a companion published to accompany an original study report in that journal authored by three researchers who listed their institution as "R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Research & Development, Bowman Gray Technical Center."[13] and appeared in the 2-1/2 pages immediately following the report. While the brief defense of the authors' right to publish never mentioned Feinstein's own tobacco industry sponsorship, he made his position clear in the brief piece which ended with "The 'bad guys,' of course, are not always right, but if they are denied a fair and proper scientific hearing, neither society nor science will benefit. Society is entitled to make political decisions based on advocacy. The scientific basis for those decisions, however, should depend not on political advocacy, but on scholarship-no matter how it is produced or by whom."[14]
References
- PMID 11959066.
- ^ a b O'Connor A. Dr. Alvan Feinstein, 75, Innovator in Diagnoses, Dies. October 29, 2001 New York Times.
- JSTOR 2263627.
- ^ a b "YaleNews | in Memoriam: Yale Expert in Clinical Research Methods, Alv…". Archived from the original on 15 December 2012.
- PMID 19084781.
- ^ http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2001/10/31/alvan-feinstein-dies-at-age-75/[full citation needed][permanent dead link]
- PMID 11964421.
- PMC 1732148.
- ^ "Alvan R. Feinstein Memorial Award". American College of Physicians. 7 June 2021.
- ^ PMID 11684592.
- PMID 12547451.
- ^ Feinstein AR, Wells CK, Walter SD. A comparison of multivariable mathematical methods for predicting survival--I. Introduction, rationale, and general strategy. J Clin Epidemiol. 1990;43(4):339-47. doi:10.1016/0895-4356(90)90120-e
- ^ Smith CJ, Sears SB, Walker JC, Deluca PO. Environmental Tobacco Smoke: Current Assessment and Future Directions. Toxicologic Pathology. 1992;20(2):289-305. doi:10.1177/019262339202000217
- ^ Feinstein, AR. Justice, Science, and the “Bad Guys.” in Smith CJ, Sears SB, Walker JC, Deluca PO. Environmental Tobacco Smoke: Current Assessment and Future Directions. Toxicologic Pathology. 1992;20(2):289-305. doi:10.1177/019262339202000217