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.