2012
Distinguished Lectures in the Life Sciences

Brian Deer, The Sunday Times of
London
Brian Deer is an
investigative reporter whose investigations have won him numerous awards
including the British Press Award, Great Britain’s top journalism award, in 1999
and 2011. Specializing in medicine,
pharmaceuticals and social issues, he has carried out public interest inquiries
for The Sunday Times of London on four continents, made hour-long TV
documentaries and featured on most of America's top news and current affairs
shows. Commenting on Deer's findings of
fraud in vaccine research, the New York Daily News commented: "Hippocrates
would puke".
“An Elaborate Fraud:
The MMR Vaccine &
Autism”
5:30 pm
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Room 1309 Centennial Hall
Fears
that vaccines cause autism has become one of the biggest health controversies
in America. But where did the story begin, and what keeps it going?
Over a period of seven years, Brian Deer investigated the story for The
Sunday Times of London and now comes to LaCrosse to reveal what Time Magazine
dubbed one of the "great science frauds" of all time. Launched
from one British hospital in the 1990s, the scare took hold first in the UK,
and then spread around the globe, leaving doctors baffled, children at risk,
parents frightened, and lawyers with a lot more money. Deer shows how it was done,
who did it, and why it will happen again.
“Stiletto Journalism: Busting the Vaccine Scare”
3:30 pm
Friday, October 5, 2012
Room 1309 Centennial Hall
Brian
Deer is a two-times British Press Award-winner, and veteran of four libel
lawsuits, Brian Deer took a blank sheet of paper and, for The Sunday
Times of London, carried out one of the classic public interest
investigations of recent times. He probed the controversy over vaccines and
autism. Based on this landmark inquiry, and 25 years of pursuing complex,
contentious topics, he gives a reporter's inside perspective on how to break a
difficult story.