Oz had been a PR problem for a while thanks to his flagrant support of pseudoscientific and often misleading health advice, but that peaked in April 2015, when 10 physicians issued a letter calling for him to be removed from his senior position.https://www.vox.com/2015/4/16/8423867/dr-oz-letter-columbia …
-
-
Show this thread
-
The 10 physicians, Oz asserted, were motivated by a pro-GMO bias, which is why they attacked him.http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-a-physicians-attack-on-dr-oz-explodes-into-a-new-controversy-20150420-column.html …
Show this thread -
After the controversy died down, I was curious, so I checked to see what happened. Wouldn't you know it, but between May and August of that year, Oz was removed from the website.pic.twitter.com/EG2UdYlBnX
Show this thread -
When I asked the chair of the department, Craig Smith, he told me that Oz hadn't been demoted as a result of the controversy. Instead, Smith claimed he had accidentally been left up on the website for years, and had not actually fulfilled the position's responsibilities.
Show this thread -
It's not clear to me that this is or isn't the case, but there were certainly a lot of reasons to remove Oz from his senior position. For example, there was that time he was brought up before the United States Senate and grilled.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkUe4bMS_8Y …
Show this thread -
Or maybe it was that time when he conducted a trial with human subjects without IRB approval, as
@gorskon has documented.pic.twitter.com/QpqWRqMytg
Show this thread -
Regardless, as of 2016, Oz was no longer vice chair of the department, and for many years, he was working one day a week (Thursday) coming in to see and operate on a few patients.
Show this thread -
I spoke to multiple medical professionals, including chairs of other departments at Columbia's Med Center about their thoughts on Oz. Essentially none of them would speak off the record for fear of reprisal, and some felt they had already been punished.
Show this thread -
Despite doing little to nothing at Columbia, Oz maintains his position (and the prestige that comes with it) while tarring the university's reputation with pseudoscience and medical advice that's more like grift.
Show this thread -
I didn't come to a conclusive answer during my reporting, but it seems like a combination of in-department friends as well as tacit approval from the dean, Lee Goldman, have kept Oz in his job.
Show this thread -
Oz isn't the first of last medical professional to abuse his position and the vaunted protections of academic freedom, nor is he the worst to do so. UC Berkeley still employs Peter Duesberg, for example.pic.twitter.com/I3HncbVImX
Show this thread -
But it's hard to imagine that Oz's own promotion of snake oil hasn't been enabled by his position at Columbia. Anyways, for the definitive profile, check out
@specterm's article from 2013. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/02/04/the-operator …Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.