This page is for people who manage events, usually academic or Continuing Education, at which speakers must disclose any financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.
I give speeches for many clients, some of whom are businesses, but none of whom represents an on-going relationship with me or that skews my perspective as an evangelist for patient engagement. To represent that situation clearly and accurately I use the following text, which was accepted by the BMJ for my participation on its Patient Panel (2014-2020).
As an evangelist for a new view of medicine, I give speeches for a living: a full time professional speaker, I receive speaking fees (honoraria) from conference organisers. I retain full editorial control over the content of my speeches, as would be expected for an evangelist: I ask my sponsor what subjects interest them, and I present my views (and only my views) on the topics.
These speeches have been funded by over 100 sources in virtually every segment of medicine (except, unfortunately, U.S. government policy meetings, which refuse to pay for patient perspectives). Sponsors have included individual hospitals, state and regional hospital associations, patient safety organisations, the Mayo Clinic, academic lectures at Harvard, Darmouth, Wharton, and the University of Colorado, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and individual companies for private and public meetings.
Also, I sometimes advise companies and academics on the patient perspective, again speaking as an evangelist. These clients do not sponsor speeches. In the past I had stock options in some companies I advised (<1% of each) but none was ever liquidated and all have been discontinued.