Our Events
Upcoming Events
Conflicting Interests in Healthcare: what they are, what do they mean, what can we do about them?
22nd October 2026
Online event
2-4.30pm
£8
Conflicts of interest can harm patients, undermine trust – and cost the health service more money. But working with industry can also bring benefits to patients, and the universities and government are often keen to support those relationships. So how do we handle it? For years we have been told that transparency is key – but supposing this isn’t enough to stop conflicts – and might just be making us feel more comfortable with them?
The Centre for Evidence and Values in Healthcare invites you to join us at a fully online event, on the 22nd October 2026. Join us between 2 – 4:30pm to discuss and explore the issues created by conflicting interests in healthcare. Understand what impact these could be having on patients and the public, and importantly what we need to think about when faced with them. This event will be helpful for policymakers, clinicians, journalists, civil servants, academics, healthcare managers, healthcare students, academics, patients and politicians. Dr Margaret McCartney, Founder and Director of The Centre for Evidence and Values in Healthcare, Senior Lecturer, and GP, has researched and published extensively on this subject and is passionate about the need to reduce patient harm caused by financial conflicts of interest.
We are delighted to welcome Baroness Gisela Stuart, First Civil Service Commissioner, who will set the overall scene considering why integrity matters in civic life. Baroness Stuart served as an MP from 1997 until 2017, working as a government minister between 1999 to 2001.
Joining us are expert speakers and discussants who will explore conflicting interests from varying angles:
Dr Sunita Sah, Professor of Management & Organizations and Organizational Psychologist, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business; Core Faculty Fellow, Cornell Health Policy Center; Professor of Organizational Behaviour, University College London Global Business School for Health. Sunita will explore the paradoxes of disclosure and the moral duties of professionals in a talk entitled ‘Transparency and Trust’.
An ‘Interview with’, David Rowland, Director of the Centre for Health and Public Interest (CHPI) and Rebecca Coombes, Head of Journalism at The BMJ, will be hosted by Dr James Larkin, Senior Postdoctoral Fellow, at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland. Together they will consider ‘Why does any of this matter?’ discussing the limits of what disclosure can achieve and what counts as a conflict; discuss the practical issues related to managing conflicts in medical publishing; and explore how and why healthcare organisations can and need to divest themselves of conflicts of interest.
An ‘Ask the Panel’ discussion on Industry – problems and solutions will be hosted by Professor Kevin Orr, Professor of Leadership and Governance at University of St Andrews Business School and Dr Samuel Mansell, Lecturer at University of St Andrews, Business School. Panel members include:
- Susan Tansey, Independent Consultant Pharmaceutical Physician
- Dr Sheuli Porkess, President and Chair of Board of Trustees, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine and Co-Founder PM Life Sciences Consulting
- Dr Piotr Ozieranski, Reader in Sociology, University of Bath
We intend this event to be useful to all people working in and around healthcare whether at the start, middle or later careers, as well as those working in policy, journalism, and patient advocates. All welcome.
The Centre for Evidence and Values in Healthcare is not-for-profit. We aim to simply recover the administrative cost of running the event in the event price. Our work is reliant on donations and securing grant funding. Please visit our website if you would like to make an additional donation – for example – just a small donation could enable us to offer a subsidised place at our events to a student. All support is gratefully received. However, as we wish to remain independent we do not accept commercial sponsorship. If you cannot afford to attend please tell us and we will make accommodations.
Booking coming soon
Please contact us by email if you would like any more information.
Past Events
A ‘mini-masterclass’ : Evidence based medicine
30th June and 1st July 2026 Online
As part of CEVH’s commitment to public engagement and to support policymakers, Dr Margaret McCartney and Professor Peter Donnelly, held two 50-minute educational seminar’s specifically for MSP’s and their teams on evidence based medicine. These were to support new MSP’s in quickly gaining the knowledge they require to successfully carry out their duties.
The Business of Healthcare – ethical issues for doctors, vets, and dentists
19th June 2026 Edinburgh
The full to capacity event brought together people from medicine, dentistry and veterinary practice to discuss how contracts and commercial pressures can affect professional judgement. Speakers looked at the growing influence of private finance on public services and asked how contracts can be designed to keep the public good at the centre of decision-making. The event was truly inter-professional and multidisciplinary with delegates engaging with enthusiasm and passion.
Read the full report here.
Screening – it’s complicated. The science, evidence and practice of screening for disease
5th February 2026 Parliament Hall, St Andrews
‘Screening – it’s complicated’ had a packed programme of expert speakers from a variety of disciplines. The event created the space for knowledge sharing, discussion, and debate, with one delegate reflecting that the event had enabled “empowerment to address these issues with friends, family, colleagues and policy makers” . Read the full report here
Also, read a reflective summary from an undergraduate student – one of our future clinicians – who chose to attend the event to enhance and compliment their medical studies at the School of Medicine, University of St Andrews. Read Niamh Bleakley’s reflective piece here
Inaugural event – Evidence and Values in Healthcare: Why they matter
31st October 2025 Parliament Hall, St Andrews
Director of the Centre for Evidence and Values in Healthcare, Dr Margaret McCartney, reflected on the event “I’m very grateful to everyone who came and who made the event such a success. I had so many conversations with inspiring people working all over healthcare. Our work can be both difficult and hugely rewarding and we are looking forward to developing ways to support people in the everyday challenges we face”. Read the full report here.
L-R: Dr Joseph Millum, Sir David Haslam, Karen Titchener, Dr Margaret McCartney, Professor Kevin Orr, Professor Frank Sullivan
