Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

JAMA's Bauchner to Step Down

Howard Bauchner is leaving his role as editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association and the JAMA Network, the AMA has announced.

Bauchner was placed on administrative leave following a February JAMA Network podcast that questioned whether there is structural racism in healthcare. In March, MedPage Today reported that in the since-deleted episode, Edward Livingston, then the deputy editor at JAMA, said that "[s]tructural racism is an unfortunate term. Personally, I think taking racism out of the conversation will help. Many of us are offended by the concept that we are racist." The New York Times added that the episode was also promoted with a tweet that said: "No physician is racist, so how can there be structural racism in healthcare?"

As Buzzfeed News notes, this led to a backlash, and some researchers vowed to boycott JAMA. Livingston resigned from his position and Bauchner was placed on leave pending an investigation. Now, the AMA says Bauchner will be leaving his post at the end of the month.

"I remain profoundly disappointed in myself for the lapses that led to the publishing of the tweet and podcast," Bauchner says in a statement. "Although I did not write or even see the tweet, or create the podcast, as editor-in-chief, I am ultimately responsible for them."

AMA Executive Editor Phil Fontanarosa is serving as interim editor-in-chief.

The Scan

Latent HIV Found in White Blood Cells of Individuals on Long-Term Treatments

Researchers in Nature Microbiology find HIV genetic material in monocyte white blood cells and in macrophages that differentiated from them in individuals on HIV-suppressive treatment.

Seagull Microbiome Altered by Microplastic Exposure

The overall diversity and the composition at gut microbiome sites appear to coincide with microplastic exposure and ingestion in two wild bird species, according to a new Nature Ecology and Evolution study.

Study Traces Bladder Cancer Risk Contributors in Organ Transplant Recipients

In eLife, genome and transcriptome sequencing reveal mutation signatures, recurrent somatic mutations, and risky virus sequences in bladder cancers occurring in transplant recipients.

Genes Linked to White-Tailed Jackrabbits' Winter Coat Color Change

Climate change, the researchers noted in Science, may lead to camouflage mismatch and increase predation of white-tailed jackrabbits.