Individuals Involved in Assessment of Conflict of Interest
- Shekhar Saxena, DirectorDepartment of mental health and substance abuseWHO headquarters
- Tarun Dua, Programme managerDepartment of mental health and substance abuseWHO headquarters
- Neerja Chowdhary, Technical officerDepartment of mental health and substance abuseWHO headquarters
To comply with WHO’s Conflict of Interest Policy, the Secretariat followed the revised Guidelines for Declaration of Interests (WHO Experts)1. Declarations of interest (DoI) were requested from a) all GDG members b) all external partners involved in the evidence review process; c) all experts invited to review the evidence profiles.
A letter requesting completion of a DoI form and submission of a curriculum vitae was sent to all GDG members, the external review group and external partners. They were asked to agree to the publication of a summary of declarations in the guideline. The GDG members were also required to complete a confidentiality undertaking. Once received, the WHO Secretariat reviewed the DoIs as well as additional information (internet and bibliographic database search) and evaluated if there are any conflicts of interest and if so, whether these require a management plan.
In order to enhance its management of conflicts of interest as well as strengthen public trust and transparency in connection with WHO meetings and activities involving the provision of technical/normative advice, the names and brief biographies of members being considered for participation in the GDG were disclosed for public notice and comment prior to the meeting.
At the beginning of the GDG meeting, the DoI of each GDG member were presented and GDG members and external partners were asked to update their DoI with relevant changes by notifying the responsible technical officer.
The follow up and suggested actions agreed upon to manage the conflicts of interest declared are summarized below:
- If members declare interests that are relevant to the meeting, the WHO Secretariat will note any potential conflict of interest and summarize these and then decide whether and to what extent they can participate in the guideline development.
- If the conflict is deemed to be significant, the WHO Secretariat will decide if the conflict necessitates exclusion of that person from participating in the guideline process or if their participation should be limited.
- These decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.
Below is a summary of the declared conflicts of interest and how these were managed.
A. GDG Members
GDG Members with no relevant interests declared on the DOI form and no relevant interests found in the CV
- Abdullah Al-KhathamiMinistry of Health, Riyadh, Saudia Arabia.
- Corrado BarbuiUniversity of Verona, Verona, Italy.
- Christopher DowrickUniversity of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
- Benjamin DrussEmory University, Atlanta, USA.
- Rahib El ChammayNational Mental Health Programme, Beirut, Lebanon.
- Suhaila GhuloumWeill Cornell Medicine, Doha, Qatar.
- Yueqin HuangPeking University Institute of Mental Health, Beijing, China.
- Asma HumayunMeditrina Healthcare, Islamabad, Pakistan.
- Mario MajUniversity of Naples, Italy
- Soontareeporn MeepringNaresuan University, Bangkok, Thailand.
- Shanthi MendisColombo, Sri Lanka.
- Thomas Munk LaursenAarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
- Dorairaj PrabhakaranPublic Health Foundation of India, New Delhi, India.
- Thara RangaswamySchizophrenia Research Foundation, Chennai, India
- Ezra SusserColumbia University, New York, USA.
- Graham ThornicroftKing’s College London, London, United Kingdom.
- Abe Fekadu WassieCollege of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
GDG members who have declared an interest on the DOI form or where a potentially relevant interest has been noted from the CV
- Jacqueline CurtisUniversity of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia.
Dr Curtis received grants for research activities (three current grants amounting to a total of USD310,400 and three previous grants amounting to a total of USD16,600) from UNSW, New South Wales (NSW) government, commonwealth Bank of Australia and Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney Foundation Patient Care Grant. She has been an expert advisor to the Orygen Youth Health (OYH) Research Centre, Melbourne for which she received USD440 remuneration in 2014. The OYH is part of the public mental health system in Melbourne, Australia, and sees young people aged 15 to 24, with a focus on early intervention and youth specific approaches. She also received honoraria for speaking at various scientific fora amounting to a total of USD5900 between 2014 and 2016 from the Adelaide Clinic, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute if Medical Science, Lundbeck, Townsville and Cairns Mental Health Services and OYH.
Action: It was felt that this interest is insignificant or minimal and unlikely to affect, or be reasonably perceived to affect Dr Curtis’s judgement in the development of the present guidelines. No further action was necessary.
- Gail L. DaumitJohns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.
Dr Gail Lois Daumit is a Professor at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Maryland, USA. In her DOI, she noted that the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine received four Federal grants for research projects in which she is the principal investigator, with total annual direct costs of USD 1.7 million.
Action: It was felt that this interest is insignificant or minimal and unlikely to affect, or be reasonably perceived to affect, Dr Daumit’s judgement in the development of the present guidelines. No further action was necessary.
- Christopher DowrickUniversity of Liverpool, Institute of Psychology, Health and Society
Dr Dowrick declared in his DOI form that as Chair of the Working Party for Mental Health of the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) he has overseen the production and publication of a set of guidance documents and training materials for family doctors on the topic related to these guidelines.
Action: It was felt that this interest is insignificant or minimal and unlikely to affect, or be reasonably perceived to affect, Dr Dowrick’s judgement in the development of the present guidelines. He is deemed to be participating in the guideline development process in an individual capacity and not representing any organization. No further action was necessary.
- Oye GurejeDepartment of Psychiatry University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Professor Oye Gureje is Professor of Psychiatry and Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health, Neuroscience, Drug and Alcohol Abuse, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. In his DOI, he noted that he received research support amounting to $2.5million from the National Institute of Mental Health for a current project to study collaborative shared care for people with SMD.
Action: It was felt that this interest is insignificant or minimal and unlikely to affect, or be reasonably perceived to affect, Professor Gureje’s judgement in the development of the present guidelines. No further action was necessary.
- Martin PrinceKing’s College London, London, United Kingdom.
Professor Prince declared in his DOI form that he currently receives research support through a grant from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR, UK) amounting to GBP 7 million over four years. Prof Prince is the PI and 20% of his salary costs are charged to the grant. The work focuses on health systems strengthening in sub Saharan Africa and one theme relates to the topic of these guidelines i.e. integrated primary healthcare for multimorbid conditions.
Action: It was felt that this interest is insignificant or minimal and unlikely to affect, or be reasonably perceived to affect, Professor Prince’s judgement in the development of the present guidelines. No further action was necessary.
- David ShiersHealthy Active Lives (HeAL), Manchester, United Kingdom.
Dr David Shiers has honorary appointment with the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and University of Manchester. In his DOI, he noted that he received remuneration as consultant the National Health Service, Royal College of Psychiatrists, NICE and Health Services Executive, Ireland for activities related to the subject of the meeting or the work. He also noted that he has received, along with other partners, a total of GBP 3.2 million funding for 6 research projects from the National Institute of Health Research, UK.
Action: It was felt that this interest is insignificant or minimal and unlikely to affect, or be reasonably perceived to affect, Dr Shiers’s judgement in the development of the present guidelines. No further action was necessary.
B. External Review Group
Members of the external review group with no relevant interests declared on the DOI form and no relevant interests found in the CV
- Atalay AlemDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
- Zipporah AliKenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association, Kenya
- Lydia ChwastiakUniversity of Washington Medical Centre, USA
- Pim CuijersVrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Alan CohenWest London Mental Health Trust, UK
- Julian EatonCBM and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK
- Alberto MinolettiSchool of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Chile
- Rajat RayNational Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
- Sarrafzadegan NizalIsfahan University of Medical Sciences in Iran and School of Population and Public Health in the University of British Columbia in Canada
- John SaundersThe University of Sydney, Australia;
- Najma SiddiqiUniversity of York, UK
- Isolde SommersDanube University Krems, Austria
- Héðinn UnnsteinssonPrime Minister’s Office, Iceland
- Pieter VentevogelUNHCR, Switzerland
- Lakshmi VijaykumarVoluntary Health Services, Chennai, India.
Members of the external review group who have declared an interest on the DOI form or where a potentially relevant interest has been noted from the CV
- Ayesha MotalaUniversity of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Dr Motala declared that as a public servant working in a government institute, she seeks sponsorships to meetings from various organizations, especially when her scientific abstracts are accepted for presentations. The sponsorships are merely for attending the meetings, with no obligation to the sponsoring companies.
Details of such sponsorship for which she received a total amount of $26,000:
4–8 December 2017: International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Congress, Abu Dhabi: Sanofi Aventis sponsorship for travel and Accommodation; 11–15 September 2017: European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) Congress, Lisbon: Pfizer sponsorship for Travel and accommodation; 8–13 June 2018: American Diabetes Association (ADA), San Diego: Boehringer Ingelheim sponsorship for Travel and accommodation: a member of her collaborating scientific team presented a paper.
Action: It was felt that this interest is insignificant or minimal and unlikely to affect, or be reasonably perceived to affect, Dr Motala’s contribution as an external reviewer for these guidelines. No further action was necessary.
- Charlene SunkelCentral Gauteng Mental Health Society, South Africa
Ms Sunkel is a service user group representative and declared that she has published in the World Psychiatry journal on premature mortality of people with SMD titled: “A service users perspective” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5269497/
Action: It was felt that this interest is insignificant or minimal and unlikely to affect, or be reasonably perceived to affect, Ms Sunkel’s contribution as an external reviewer for these guidelines. No further action was necessary.
- Inka WeissbeckerInternational Medical Corps, Washington DC, USA.
Dr Weissbecker works for International Medical Corps (IMC) which is a humanitarian non-profit organization and has an interest in the subject of mental health and distress related to humanitarian crises (as IMC has various global projects integrating mental health and psychosocial support). She has also worked as a consultant in the field of mental health in the past (more than 10 years ago) including for WHO.
Action: It was felt that this interest is insignificant or minimal and unlikely to affect, or be reasonably perceived to affect, Dr Weissbecker’s contribution as an external reviewer for these guidelines. No further action was necessary.
C. External Partners
External partners with no relevant interests declared on the DOI form and no relevant interests found in the CV
- Maya SemrauKing’s College London, London and Global Health and Infection Department, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, United Kingdom.
External partners who have declared an interest on the DOI form or where a potentially relevant interest has been noted from the CV
- Kavitha KolappaHarvard Medical School, Boston, USA
Dr Kolappa is part of the systematic review team for the development of these guidelines. Dr Kolappa declared that she received research support amounting to approximately USD 56,000 (USD 51,000 as stipend and USD 5000 for travel costs and purchase of computer) from the National Institutes of Health, USA. The period of this grant was for one year and ended in October 2017. Her area of study was the proposed relationship between social relationships, metabolic disease, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Action: It was felt that this interest is insignificant or minimal and unlikely to affect, or be reasonably perceived to affect, Dr Kolappa’s contribution to the evidence review and synthesis process for the development of the present guidelines. As a member of the systematic review group she will be a technical resource and, therefore, will not participate in any of the closed sessions (voting or drafting final recommendations). No further action was necessary.
- Jayati Das-MunshiKing’s College London, London, United Kingdom
Dr Das-Munshi is part of the systematic review team. In her DOI she noted that she is funded (amount GBP578198) by a Clinical Scientist Fellowship by a UK health charity, Health Foundation, in partnership with the Academy of Medical Sciences. She stated that the funder does not have any business or commercial interest in the work related to these guidelines and her research is independent of the funder’s views.
Action: It was felt that this interest is insignificant or minimal and unlikely to affect, or be reasonably perceived to affect, Dr Das-Munshi’s contribution to the evidence review and synthesis process for the development of the present guidelines. As a member of the systematic review group she will be a technical resource and, therefore, will not participate in any of the closed sessions (voting or drafting final recommendations). No further action was necessary.
Footnotes
- 1
WHO Office of Compliance, Risk Management and Ethics (CRE) http://intranet
.who.int /homes/cre/ethics/doiexperts/
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NLM Citation
Management of Physical Health Conditions in Adults with Severe Mental Disorders. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2018. Annex 2, Assessment of conflict of interest.