Regarding the recent news stories about the nationally syndicated public radio show, "The Infinite Mind": I served as the show's principal host for over a year in the interval 2005 - 2007. Since the media reporting concerns questions of undisclosed conflicts of interest by a prior (and subsequent) host, I think it makes sense for me to reiterate what I have indicated in the past: I have not represented and do not represent pharmaceutical houses; I have not taken, nor do I take payments from pharmaceutical houses. As a result, I am one of the doctors listed as an "independent medical expert" in the recent BMJ article, "Medicine and the media: is there an (unbiased) doctor in the house?"

The issue of independence is one I have kept in mind for the whole of my career as a writer and doctor. For example, in researching Listening to Prozac, when I interviewed drug company scientists at corporate headquarters, I paid for my own transportation, food, and lodging. If the producers of "The Infinite Mind" choose to upload episodes I hosted, public radio stations can broadcast them knowing that I have no undisclosed financial ties, nor indeed any ties, to Big Pharma.