Category: Medical Academia
UC-Irvine, integrative medicine, and the delusion of being “science-based”
Last month, a billionaire couple, Susan and Henry Samueli, announced a $200 million gift to UC-Irvine to found the Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, which will be devoted to integrative medicine and studying "unconventional" treatments. Its founders promise that it will be rigorously science-based in articles in a large, glossy magazine. There are many reasons for doubts about this...
Integrative medicine advocates react to criticisms of the Samuelis’ $200 million gift to UC-Irvine
Last month, Susan and Henry Samueli donated $200 million to the University of California, Irvine to promote integrative medicine. We were pleasantly surprised by the unflattering coverage in the press of the gift. We were unpleasantly unsurprised by the reaction of integrative medicine advocates to the criticism.
Quackademic Medicine at UC Irvine
UC Irvine Medicine School opens a center for integrative medicine, selling out to promote quackery in medicine.
The closure of major integrative medicine “Crown Jewels”: Terminating the Terminator?
When it comes to expansion and infiltrating medicine, "integrative medicine" has frequently seemed like the Terminator: utterly relentless. Recent setbacks at major integrative medicine "Crown Jewels" resulting in their closure cast that narrative in doubt. However, I never forget that after its seeming destruction, the Terminator always comes back.
Quackery infiltrates The BMJ
As quackery in the form of "integrative medicine" has increasingly been "integrated" into medicine, medical journals are starting to notice and succumb to the temptation to decrease their skepticism. The BMJ, unfortunately, is the latest to do so. It won't be the last.
Is the ACCME cracking down on quackery in continuing medical education (CME) offerings? Richard Jaffe thinks so.
Richard Jaffe, a lawyer who has made a career out of defending quacks like Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski, thinks that the ACCME, the main accrediting body for continuing medical education (CME) credits, is cracking down on "complementary and alternative medicine" CME courses. That would be a very good thing indeed, but is it really happening? More importantly, would it be enough?
Corrigendum. The Week in Review for 03/19/2017
What happened this week? Measles returns to kill. Stem cell injections blind. Lousy acupuncture studies. Fire hot. Skinny jeans are not a reason to see a chiropractor. Lesbian tendencies do not respond to homeopathy. And more.
Corrigendum. The week in review for 03/12/2017
Waiting for a vaccine-preventable infection. More lousy acupuncture studies. Medical students interested in homeopathy are not as strong at science. Water wet. TCPM consuming donkeys. What the FDA does, and doesn't do, for now.
Corrigendum. The Week in Review for 02/26/2017.
I get the month right. Mumps cases, like an infected parotid gland, grow. Acupuncture graduates will not have gainful employment. Hypno-Reiki. The one true cause of all disease. And more.
Corrigendum. The Week in SBM for 01.29.2017
Not every article and study that pops up my feeds in the world of pseudo-medicine is worthy of a complete blog post. But they need to be noticed and commented upon: FDA confirms elevated levels of belladonna in certain homeopathic teething products. Homeopaths prove water not toxic to fish. Lots of acupuncture recommendations, little good data. Everything is CAM. And more! Duty...