Four things to know:
1. Anne McCammon, MD, served as an editor of the humanities section of Neurology since 2011. The section published an essay Feb. 12 by William Campbell, MD, an emeritus professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. However, the article was retracted two days later.
2. The article reportedly contained “racist characterizations” of black people, according to Medscape. One passage from the article reportedly documented the narrator’s encounter with a woman, stating: “I once shared a table at a fried chicken fast food establishment with a nice African-American lady. Immensely enjoying her fries, she sat with the shaker in one chubby fist and liberally salted each individual fry.” Dr. Campbell said he did not mean to offend anyone with the article, according to the report.
3. Neurology Editor-in-Chief Robert Gross, MD, PhD, issued a letter to readers Feb. 18 detailing steps the journal has taken to prevent similar incidents in the future.
“The error has compelled us to seriously re-examine our editorial processes, informed by conversations with a number of diversity leaders within the AAN. Our goal is to provide the best material possible for our readers, and we failed in this instance,” he wrote.
4. Dr. Gross said the journal has suspended the humanities section until further notice, and that the journal will hire a deputy editor for equity, diversity and inclusion to “review … accepted papers to assure that they present the proper perspective when describing groups and the rationale for the study,” among other solutions.
To access the full report, click here.
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