News from Cochrane
- Thread starter Kalliope
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Sly Saint
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
https://register-of-charities.chari...-charities/-/charity-details/1045921/trustees
Just noting that the Cochrane Collaboration is a charity governed by the Charity Commission of England and Wales.
Many of the Trustees appear to have changed in November 2024. Perhaps the new trustees are not aware in any detail of the September decision on the Larun et al review; perhaps to the contrary, they are supportive of it. Perhaps some of the trustees who stood down in 2024 were not supportive of the decision and may be concerned about the events of December.
Person, role, date of appointment, other trusteeships
Dr Susan Phillips, Chair, 15 July 2024, None on record
Professor Vanessa Jordan-Cole, Trustee, 25 November 2024, None on record
Dr Giordano Perez Gaxiola, Trustee, 25 November 2024, None on record
Professor Joerg Meerpohl, Trustee, 25 November 2024, None on record
Nigel Jones, Trustee, 12 August 2024, THE GRACE MEMORIAL TRUST, West Sussex Mind
Professor Gillian Leng, Trustee, 01 October 2022, THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE
Dr Wendy Sue Levinson, Trustee, 01 October 2022, None on record
Emma Eleanor Beatrice Persad, Trustee, 29 November 2021, None on record
Professor Tamara Kredo, Trustee, 24 August 2020, None on record
Dr Juan Victor Ariel Franco, Trustee, 24 August 2020, None on record
Just noting that the Cochrane Collaboration is a charity governed by the Charity Commission of England and Wales.
Many of the Trustees appear to have changed in November 2024. Perhaps the new trustees are not aware in any detail of the September decision on the Larun et al review; perhaps to the contrary, they are supportive of it. Perhaps some of the trustees who stood down in 2024 were not supportive of the decision and may be concerned about the events of December.
Person, role, date of appointment, other trusteeships
Dr Susan Phillips, Chair, 15 July 2024, None on record
Professor Vanessa Jordan-Cole, Trustee, 25 November 2024, None on record
Dr Giordano Perez Gaxiola, Trustee, 25 November 2024, None on record
Professor Joerg Meerpohl, Trustee, 25 November 2024, None on record
Nigel Jones, Trustee, 12 August 2024, THE GRACE MEMORIAL TRUST, West Sussex Mind
Professor Gillian Leng, Trustee, 01 October 2022, THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE
Dr Wendy Sue Levinson, Trustee, 01 October 2022, None on record
Emma Eleanor Beatrice Persad, Trustee, 29 November 2021, None on record
Professor Tamara Kredo, Trustee, 24 August 2020, None on record
Dr Juan Victor Ariel Franco, Trustee, 24 August 2020, None on record
https://register-of-charities.chari...s/-/charity-details/1045921/financial-history
On the finances of the Cochrane Collaboration, it appears that they had no UK government contracts and received no UK government grants, at least up to the end of 2023. It did however receive 9 million pounds of income from 'charitable activities' in 2023.
Excerpts from the 2023 Annual Report
Cochrane's governing body is the Governing Board (the Board) and members of the Board are the Charity’s Trustees. The Board determines the overall strategic direction in line with the charitable objectives and governs the Charity on behalf of the organization’s members.
The Board scrutinises the management functions that have been delegated to the Executive Leadership Team. A framework sets out the authority delegated to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Editor in Chief (EIC) by the Board.
All Trustees adhere to a Governing Board Charter and Code of Conduct for Trustees and take part in regular training and development.
In September 2023, the Governing Board agreed that the Cochrane Council would not continue to operate after the end of 2023. A working group made up of members of the Council and the Governing Board agreed to work together during the first half of 2024 to develop new and improved ways of engaging with the Cochrane community.
The Future Engagement Mechanisms Working Group met on 12 December 2023 and again on 21 February 2024, it will develop a proposal to present to the Board during the first half of 2024.
Following our response to the World Health Organization (WHO) consultation on global clinical trials policy and our ongoing advocacy and partnership work with WHO, Cochrane’s Editor in Chief was appointed to a new WHO Technical Advisory Group on Development of Guidance on Best Practices for Clinical Trials (in a personal capacity). This will be a key opportunity to input into this policy priority, which was initiated and supported by several governments at the World Health Assembly in May 2022.
We are in the process of formalising a partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which is expected to be agreed and signed in 2024.
Cochrane sent a delegation, comprising Cochrane leadership and representatives of Cochrane Rehabilitation and Cochrane Switzerland, to the 76th World Health Assembly (WHA76) in May 2023. This gave us the opportunity to meet with key partners and build our network. WHA76 also marked the historic passing of the first ever resolution on strengthening rehabilitation in health systems. To commemorate the occasion, Cochrane supported a side event organised with NGOs and professional associations working in the field of rehabilitation and sponsored by five member states. Prof Stefano Negrini, Director of Cochrane Rehabilitation, represented Cochrane and spoke on the importance of using the best possible evidence for rehabilitation.
In November 2023, we hosted a workshop on initiating the Cochrane Scientific Strategy at WHO headquarters in Geneva. The workshop was attended by 18 WHO officials including the Director of Special Programmes on Primary Healthcare, the Director of the Health and Migration team, the Director of the Department for Social Determinants of Health and the Director of Quality Assurance of Norms and Standards. Through this, we were able to build new relationships and strengthen existing relationships throughout WHO. We continue to have follow-up meetings on the ongoing development of the Scientific Strategy.
On the finances of the Cochrane Collaboration, it appears that they had no UK government contracts and received no UK government grants, at least up to the end of 2023. It did however receive 9 million pounds of income from 'charitable activities' in 2023.
Excerpts from the 2023 Annual Report
Cochrane's governing body is the Governing Board (the Board) and members of the Board are the Charity’s Trustees. The Board determines the overall strategic direction in line with the charitable objectives and governs the Charity on behalf of the organization’s members.
The Board scrutinises the management functions that have been delegated to the Executive Leadership Team. A framework sets out the authority delegated to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Editor in Chief (EIC) by the Board.
All Trustees adhere to a Governing Board Charter and Code of Conduct for Trustees and take part in regular training and development.
In September 2023, the Governing Board agreed that the Cochrane Council would not continue to operate after the end of 2023. A working group made up of members of the Council and the Governing Board agreed to work together during the first half of 2024 to develop new and improved ways of engaging with the Cochrane community.
The Future Engagement Mechanisms Working Group met on 12 December 2023 and again on 21 February 2024, it will develop a proposal to present to the Board during the first half of 2024.
Following our response to the World Health Organization (WHO) consultation on global clinical trials policy and our ongoing advocacy and partnership work with WHO, Cochrane’s Editor in Chief was appointed to a new WHO Technical Advisory Group on Development of Guidance on Best Practices for Clinical Trials (in a personal capacity). This will be a key opportunity to input into this policy priority, which was initiated and supported by several governments at the World Health Assembly in May 2022.
We are in the process of formalising a partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which is expected to be agreed and signed in 2024.
Cochrane sent a delegation, comprising Cochrane leadership and representatives of Cochrane Rehabilitation and Cochrane Switzerland, to the 76th World Health Assembly (WHA76) in May 2023. This gave us the opportunity to meet with key partners and build our network. WHA76 also marked the historic passing of the first ever resolution on strengthening rehabilitation in health systems. To commemorate the occasion, Cochrane supported a side event organised with NGOs and professional associations working in the field of rehabilitation and sponsored by five member states. Prof Stefano Negrini, Director of Cochrane Rehabilitation, represented Cochrane and spoke on the importance of using the best possible evidence for rehabilitation.
In November 2023, we hosted a workshop on initiating the Cochrane Scientific Strategy at WHO headquarters in Geneva. The workshop was attended by 18 WHO officials including the Director of Special Programmes on Primary Healthcare, the Director of the Health and Migration team, the Director of the Department for Social Determinants of Health and the Director of Quality Assurance of Norms and Standards. Through this, we were able to build new relationships and strengthen existing relationships throughout WHO. We continue to have follow-up meetings on the ongoing development of the Scientific Strategy.
More excerpts from the 2023 Annual Report:
How to spin a debacle as a positive! - that's the masks review with its Altmetric score of 26,000. Number 2 on the list had an Altmetric score of just 3,000.
Moving to Open Access will presumably require a different funding model. This seems to be 'fundraising' - which makes sense, as 11 million pounds is relatively small change for an organisation like Cochrane to raise.
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What are the charitable activities? And is £9m in 2023 a significantly different amount to what they received by those in previous years?
Nightsong
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Hilda Bastian has posted another blog about Cochrane, mainly concerning open access to Cochrane reviews & how this might be funded, but which also highlights a number of the problems with their recent direction:
https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/03/23/paths-to-full-open-access-for-cochrane-reviews/
From Hilda's blog, the news that Catherine Spencer is stepping down as the CEO of Cochrane.
Spencer took on that role in 2022, so she has played a role in the mess that was the new Exercise Therapy for CFS review.
This is from the Cochrane website:
There is more about her here
https://www.globalevidencesummit.org/profile/catherine-spencer/
It's interesting to see Catherine Spencer's role in the Army Families Federation. Wessely seems to move in Defence Forces circles - that military connection with psychosomatic medicine has come up a few times. She has an OBE, awarded in 2023.
I guess we can only watch with interest to see who they next appoint to the CEO role. I think the background of the next CEO will tell us if the Cochrane governing Board have any intention of cutting out the rotten parts the organisation and living up to its professed values.
Dr Karla Soares-Weiser is the acting CEO.
Hilda said:
Spencer took on that role in 2022, so she has played a role in the mess that was the new Exercise Therapy for CFS review.
This is from the Cochrane website:
There is more about her here
https://www.globalevidencesummit.org/profile/catherine-spencer/
It's interesting to see Catherine Spencer's role in the Army Families Federation. Wessely seems to move in Defence Forces circles - that military connection with psychosomatic medicine has come up a few times. She has an OBE, awarded in 2023.
I guess we can only watch with interest to see who they next appoint to the CEO role. I think the background of the next CEO will tell us if the Cochrane governing Board have any intention of cutting out the rotten parts the organisation and living up to its professed values.
Dr Karla Soares-Weiser is the acting CEO.
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Peter T
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
So no hope of any change in direction in the short term.
Caroline Struthers
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
"Acting" is a good word for it
Dolphin
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Hilda Bastian
Cochrane has amended the editorial note on the #MECFS exercise review for the 2nd time since issuing it. Some improvement, which is good to see. But they still haven't gone far enough
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD003200.pub9/full
Our comment online https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cds....pub9/detailed-comment/en?messageId=451525047
#CochraneStuff
From: https://bsky.app/profile/hildabast.bsky.social/post/3llaowdevrc2y
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This post has been copied to
2025: The 2019/24 Cochrane Larun review Exercise Therapy for CFS - including IAG, campaign, petition, comments and articles
Please head to that thread to continue the discussion on the review
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Andy
Senior Member (Voting rights)
Opinion article: "Why AI can’t be trusted to write scientific reviews" by...... the editor-in-chief of Cochrane...
Sub-heading, "The production of the highest-quality literature reviews requires the judgement and expertise of people. "
"Artificial-intelligence tools are being touted as a means to conduct rapid reviews of scientific literature. At the London-based publisher the Cochrane Collaboration, where I became editor-in-chief in March, we specialize in health-related systematic reviews: the highest-quality syntheses of all the available research. We are testing ways to use AI to increase our reviews’ efficiency and scale. But, in our experience, the current tools are far from ready for mainstream adoption, and the assumption that machines can replace humans on all methodological tasks is flawed.
The stakes are high. Systematic reviews and other types of evidence synthesis inform clinical practice, public-health guidance and policy decisions that affect entire populations. Errors could give false hope to patients or lead health systems to waste money on ineffective or unsafe interventions."
Link to article, sign-up required for full article. My irony meter is off the charts.
Sub-heading, "The production of the highest-quality literature reviews requires the judgement and expertise of people. "
"Artificial-intelligence tools are being touted as a means to conduct rapid reviews of scientific literature. At the London-based publisher the Cochrane Collaboration, where I became editor-in-chief in March, we specialize in health-related systematic reviews: the highest-quality syntheses of all the available research. We are testing ways to use AI to increase our reviews’ efficiency and scale. But, in our experience, the current tools are far from ready for mainstream adoption, and the assumption that machines can replace humans on all methodological tasks is flawed.
The stakes are high. Systematic reviews and other types of evidence synthesis inform clinical practice, public-health guidance and policy decisions that affect entire populations. Errors could give false hope to patients or lead health systems to waste money on ineffective or unsafe interventions."
Link to article, sign-up required for full article. My irony meter is off the charts.
Cochrane announcement from March. I got a bit hopeful that Rupa Sarkar had replaced Karla Soares-Weiser, but I see the latter is now CEO of Cochrane. Still, it might be worth alerting Sarkar to the egregious past acts of Cochrane.
Oh, AI is absolutely putting them out of business. Completely out of their depth here. The level of quality we see out of those is below almost all the evidence used in other disciplines, and this is the "best" they have.
Just not even close to be up to the challenge here. The politics. The biases. The conflicts. AI can have them all, or none. Humans do have them all, all the time.
Less credible than a recording of "your call is important to us, please stay on the line, we value your business" and so on.
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