Has Paul Offit MD "Set Himself Up" as An Expert on Vaccines?

That's Meryl Dorey's claim made September 22, 2011 on the Australian Vaccination Network Facebook page (image and link at the bottom of the post).

He has set himself up as an expert on vaccines

Well. First, let's review Ms. Dorey's qualifications and scholarship relative to immunology, vaccinology, virology, and infectious disease.  I would be glad to correct this record if Ms. Dorey can provide actual evidence of graduation and so on. I have pretty good Google-fu, and this is the best I have been able to do:

• Undergraduate degree:  No data available
• Master's level or doctoral studies: No data available
• Post-doctoral appointments: No data available
• Published works in peer-reviewed publications: No data available
• Published book-length works: No data available
• Appointed positions: No data available
• Positions on editorial boards of peer-reviewed publications: No data available
• Leadership roles: Founded the Australian Vaccine Network

Now, let's review Dr. Offit's qualifications and scholarship -- a very much truncated list of his qualifications, appointments, and publications.  Sources:  Dr. Offit's Resume

• Undergraduate degree: 1973, B.S., Tufts University
• Master's level or doctoral studies: 1977, MD, University of Maryland;
• Post-doctoral appointments:
  • 1977-80 Intern and Resident in Pediatrics,Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh
  • 1980-82     Fellowship, Infectious Diseases, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia
• Published works in peer-reviewed publications: more than 130 papers in medical and scientific journals in the areas of rotavirus-specific immune responses and vaccine safety.
• Published book-length works:
  • The Cutter Incident: How America’s First Polio Vaccine Led to Today’s Growing Vaccine Crisis (Yale University Press, 2005),
  • Vaccinated: One Man’s Quest to Defeat the World’s Deadliest Diseases (HarperCollins, 2007)
  • Autism’s False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure (Columbia University Press, 2008), and
  • Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All (Basic Books, 2011).
• Selected Appointed positions:
  • 1987-1993 Editorial Board, Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Medicine and Biology
  • 1986-2001 Editorial Board, Journal of Clinical Microbiology
  • 1990- Editorial Board, Virology
  • 2003- Editorial Board, Infectious Diseases in Children
  • 2004- Associate Editor, Human Vaccines
  • 2005- Editorial Board, Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology
  • Advisory Board, American Council on Science and Health

 Hmmmn.  Which of these two people have "set themselves up" as an expert on vaccines?  Hint: it isn't Paul Offit, MD

click to embiggen Link: http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=111420278965592&id=55142201924

Update December 18 2011 From Reasonable Hank: A Documented List of A Selection of Meryl Dorey's Lies

Comments

[Andy]

Ahh, but you missed the most important qualification that Dorey Meryl holds dear - she "has a brain". Of course, we have to take her word for that because the evidence is lacking. Offit doesn't even mention a brain in his resumé - so Meryl just might be in front if her anecdotal evidence is accepted at face value.

[Andy]

"Dorey Meryl"? Clearly my brainiastic qualifications are also in doubt.

[Liz Ditz]

Andy, I would really like to keep the conversation here to facts, rather than ad hominem attacks.

[Andy]

No worries, apologies. But, given the opportunity to list her qualifications on Australian TV, she did reply that she had a brain. This reinforces your "no data available" results for actual academic qualifications.

[Chris]

I believe I caught a bit of sarcasm in Andy's comment.

Yes, Ms. Dorey has replied about her medical qualifications that she has graduated from high school and has a "brain."

But many of us know that even those with high academic qualifications have been fooled. It doesn't matter how much education you have had, but sometimes what it is in and how willing you are to look at the evidence.

One major example is that some very qualified scientists were fooled by a couple of teenagers in Project Alpha. I saw all of the major players of this talk about it at TAM 9, and sincerely believe it would make a wonderful movie, as an educational comedy.

What should be noted is that both Ms. Dorey and Dr. Phillips are hampered by not doing the proper research, and having closed minds. Dr. Phillips refused to take the advice of a magician, James Randi. Similarly, Ms. Dorey refuses to look at any data that refutes her position on vaccines.

[web design Landon]

d. It doesn't matter how much education you have had, but sometimes what it is in and how willing you are to look at the evidence.