[SilasX]

Sorry if OT but ... Anyone get a snicker out of putting JD by his name?

"Barack Obama ... don't know the cat. Oh, he has a law degree? Hm, okay, I guess his opinion might matter then."

It would be like seeing "Guido van Rossum, Dropbox Employee".

[thucydides]

This appears to be JAMA's in-house style.

See http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2533068, http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2533066, etc.

[igorgue]

Funny how you adjusted your example to make it look ridiculous.

"Barack Obama, President of the United States of America" == "Guido van Rossum, Python's BDFL"

"Barack Obama, JD" == "Guido van Rossum, Software Engineer"

Which, I'm cool with.

[etendue]

It's common practice in medical journals and conferences to list academic degrees.