Finally! Reality Versus Dr. Oz!

Editor's Note:   Your own emails to the dean (Dr. Goldman), the president of the university (Lee C. Bollinger) and the chairman of the board of trustees (Jonathan D. Schiller) would be important since it's clear, according to Doug Levy, Chief Communications Officer Columbia University Medical Center, they view this issue to be about "academic freedom” and “upholding faculty members freedom of expression for statements they make in public discussion”. 

What if Dr. Oz, or anyone else connected with Columbia,  came out and proclaimed global warming is a scam and a racket that was very profitable to junk scientists at universities all over the world?  I would be willing to bet they wouldn't consider that "freedom of expression" or "academic freedom"!

I hope this starts a trend in medicine and science where quacks and activists are taken to task by real scientists in all the scientific disciplines for all the outrageous and unscientific claims they promote with the help of an amazingly compliant and irresponsible media. 

What I truly find disturbing is that so few in science have the courage to stand up to be counted.  My personal commendation to all these professionals!

From: "Henry Miller" henry.miller@stanford.edu 

To: lg2379@cumc.columbia.edu
Cc: officeofthepresident@columbia.edu, jschiller@bsfllp.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2015 9:01:43 AM
Subject: Dr. Mehmet Oz

Lee Goldman, M.D.

Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine

Columbia University

Dear Dr. Goldman:

I am writing to you on behalf of myself and the undersigned colleagues below, all of whom are distinguished physicians.

We are surprised and dismayed that Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons would permit Dr. Mehmet Oz to occupy a faculty appointment, let alone a senior administrative position in the Department of Surgery.

As described here and here, as well as in other publications, Dr. Oz has repeatedly shown disdain for science and for evidence-based medicine, as well as baseless and relentless opposition to the genetic engineering of food crops. Worst of all, he has manifested an egregious lack of integrity by promoting quack treatments and cures in the interest of personal financial gain.

Thus, Dr. Oz is guilty of either outrageous conflicts of interest or flawed judgements about what constitutes appropriate medical treatments, or both. Whatever the nature of his pathology, members of the public are being misled and endangered, which makes Dr. Oz's presence on the faculty of a prestigious medical institution unacceptable.

Sincerely yours,

Henry I. Miller, M.D.

Robert Wesson Fellow in Scientific Philosophy

& Public Policy

Hoover Institution

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

Scott W. Atlas, M.D.

David and Joan Traitel Senior Fellow

Hoover Institution

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

Jack Fisher, M.D.

Professor of Surgery (emeritus)

University of California, San Diego

La Jolla, CA

 

Shelley Fleet, M.D.

Anesthesiologist

Longwood, FL

 

Gordon N. Gill, M.D.

Dean (emeritus) of Translational Medicine

University of California, San Diego

La Jolla, CA

Michael H. Mellon, M.D.

Pediatric Allergist

San Diego, CA

 

GIlbert Ross, M.D.

President (Acting) and Executive Director

American Council on Science and Health

New York, NY

Samuel Schneider, M.D.

Psychiatrist

Princeton, NJ

Glenn Swogger Jr. M.D.

Director of the Will Menninger Center for Applied Behavioral Sciences (retired)

The Menninger Foundation

Topeka, KS

Joel E. Tepper, M.D.

Hector MacLean Distinguished Professor of Cancer Research

Dept of Radiation Oncology

University of North Carolina School of Medicine

Chapel Hill, NC