Role: This review panel has been established as a result of a formal request from the Canadian Cancer Society and a group of academic researchers to interview people who they say have come forward with information that may have an impact on randomization, recruitment of symptomatic women, and poor radiographic image quality in the Canadian National Breast Screening Study (CNBSS).
Reporting: The three panel members will report to the Associate Vice-President, Research (Oversight and Compliance) at the University of Toronto.
Responsibilities:
- Meet with both Professor Martin Yaffe, the corresponding author for the allegation, and Professors Emeriti Anthony Miller and Cornelia Baines, the study’s principal investigators.
- Interview as many as possible of the following five individuals identified in the allegation to ascertain whether information or other documentation they may provide would have a credible scientific impact on the reliability of the CNBSS’ published recommendations.
Additional individuals may be interviewed at the panel’s discretion, including any other research personnel identified by the CNBSS principal investigators. - Deliver a final report that details the panel’s assessment of whether this new information would have a credible scientific impact on the reliability of the CNBSS’ published. recommendations, and, if they wish, to place the CNBSS in the context of the broader literature.
- Keep the Associate Vice-President, Research (Oversight and Compliance) updated about the process and outcome, as appropriate.
Committee Membership:
- Professor Mette Kalager, University of Oslo (Chair)
- Professor Isabelle Boutron, Université de Paris
- Professor Peter Jüni, University of Toronto and University of Oxford
Frequency of meetings: As needed
Resources: The University will provide administrative support for the purposes of arranging meetings, etc. An expert on qualitative methods will be made available for confidential consultation purposes if needed.
- PDF of Report from the Chair of the CNBSS Expert Panel (Professor Kalager)
- PDF of Statement from the other CNBSS Expert Panel members (Professors Boutron and Jüni)
The University thanks Professors Kalager, Boutron and Juni for the significant amount of time and effort that was dedicated to conducting this comprehensive review. We also thank the participants for their contributions.
