Thread by @cecilejanssens

Next time you get negative peer review comments, be like @MuinJKhoury.

Early in my career, he set the example on how to respond to critical comments.

Here's the story
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In 2003, @MuinJKhoury and his colleagues published one of the first papers on polygenic risk prediction, in which they outlined how that scenario would look like.

cell.com/ajhg/fulltext/…

Back then, I worked as a postdoc on the evaluation of sequential diagnostic tests with @ESteyerberg. Our work had many similarities but we used more appropriate metrics to evaluate the predictive ability (AUC/c-index). So we wrote a letter:

cell.com/ajhg/fulltext/…

@MuinJKhoury and colleagues wrote the most impressive reply I've ever seen. Read it entirely here: cell.com/ajhg/fulltext/…

At the time of publication, I was going to a conference in Atlanta. I sent Muin an email and he invited me to the CDC.

Muin told that they had scratched their heads when our letter came, but that it was fair and moving forward.

He proposed to collaborate on further work.

Which is what we did. We started with a few letters recommending others to use the AUC for evaluating polygenic risk prediction ;-)

We evaluated the scientific basis of commercial health risk DNA tests, in 2008
cell.com/ajhg/fulltext/…

We wrote several critical reflections e.g., on empirical studies that assessed the added value of polygenic risk scores in clinical risk models

ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.11…

And we co-chaired the working group that formulated reporting guidelines for genetic risk prediction studies (yes, they exist!)

journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/a…

We wrote all these papers because @MuinJKhoury and colleagues replied to our letter with a vision for next steps. They didn't defend. They didn't try to prove we were wrong. They moved forward.

Our letter, 5mo after my PhD defense, and @MuinJKhoury's reply forever changed my views about the role and importance of critiques.

Your work can move forward faster when you open up to learn from critiques. Ask why people are writing what they do. Reach out and discuss.