A recent incident involving a diabetes pharmacology lecture to 2nd year students highlighted the potential for Conflict of Interest (COI) in the classroom at the UNM School of Medicine. Although this incident was an exception, and we feel that most of our education is free of Conflicts of Interest, it does demonstrate the risk of not having specific policies against Conflicts of Interest at UNM for Undergraduate Medical Education.

We believe that information used by students in making clinical decisions should be comprehensive, transparent in its methodology and results, and independent from institutions and individuals with a financial interest in physician prescribing.

Disclosure of conflict of interest is the minimum standard for the American Academy of Continuing Medical Education accreditation, and the standards for educating physicians in training should be at least as strong as the standards for physicians who have completed their training.

We make the following recommendations for conflict of interest in undergraduate medical education. Preclinical (Phase 1) classes and some Clinical (Phase 2 and 3) presentations take the form of didactic lectures presented from a single point of view. In these settings, lecturers should be prohibited from teaching subjects for which they have conflicts of interest. If there is a situation in which a non‐conflicted lecturer is unavailable, the lecturer must disclose any relevant conflicts, the nature of the conflict (i.e. consulting arrangement, research funding, patent ownership) and the monetary amount.

We request that lecturers with certain Conflicts of Interest, specifically those who receive money from Industry to promote products or those who speak at Industry funded CME, not be allowed to lecture in any Undergraduate Medical Education setting (Phase 1, 2, or 3). We feel that lecturers with other Conflicts of Interest, including those with financial interests related to research they have done, may be allowed under the close scrutiny already provided by UNM SOMs policy for Continuing Medical Education disclosure of COIs.

We recognize that Instruction on the wards in the Clinical Phases (2 and 3) is less structured than preclinical education. However, we still believe UNM needs to have strict policies to prevent or minimize the effects of Conflict of Interest. We feel that the medical schools current COI policy for CME is an effective and appropriate model for regulating the education of clinical medical students. This policy aims to prevent Conflicts of Interest whenever possible, minimize the negative effects of Conflicts of Interest when unavoidable. All physicians should publicly disclose conflicts of interest and the nature of the conflict. Prior to the clerkship experience, the school should teach students how to access this information.

Thank you for your consideration of this important policy.