Prevention, Politics, and Prostate Cancer

Below are links to a series of blog posts that collectively tell the story of the "prevention politics" that led to my resignation from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and continue to pose threats to the progress of evidence-based medicine in the U.S.

1. The meeting that wasn't, and a surprise announcement - 11/1/10

2. "Politics trumped science": the stories behind the sound bite - 1/17/11

3. "Politics trumped science": screening for osteoporosis - 1/21/11

4. "Politics trumped science": breast cancer chemoprevention - 1/30/11

5. PSA testing: will science finally trump politics? - 2/28/11

6. Idealist - 3/31/11

7. PPIP: Prevention Politics Injures Patients - 5/31/11

8. Mammograms and death panels: why the Task Force keeps pulling its punches - 8/18/11

9. The meeting that wasn't, revisited - 10/5/11

10. Rethinking shared decisions in prostate cancer screening - 2/28/12

Other highly recommended reading:

1. Boston Globe health columnist Deborah Kotz's blog post "Are politics swaying US screening guidelines?" (6/17/11)
2. Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer's New York Times Magazine story "Can Cancer Ever Be Ignored?" (10/5/11)
3. The Cancer Letter's Special Issue on the USPSTF and PSA screening (10/7/11)
4. Health policy journalist Maggie Mahar's blog post on "The Future of Health Care Reform: Health Wonk Review Raises Some Provocative Questions" (10/24/11)