Dr. David Healy wasn’t about to pull any punches in his first speaking appearance since becoming the focal point of one of the most important academic freedom cases of the last half-century.
“This university sells itself cheap,” the eminent psychiatrist and researcher said.
Presently embroiled in a multi-million dollar lawsuit with U of T, Healy was joined by Dr. Nancy Olivieri—herself no stranger to run-ins with the administration—for a Hart House fundraiser for Doctors for Research Integrity (DRI).
The speakers at the Students Administrative Council-sponsored forum called on students, doctors and citizens to take inspiration from doctors and researchers who have struggled for academic freedom while corporations are gaining greater control over medical research, especially at U of T.
“If you’re the oyster, we’re the little bit of grit needed to make a pearl,” said Healy, explaining the role of a professor at university.
Healy was recruited, then dumped by a U of T-affiliated hospital after expressing views critical of antidepressants and conflicts of interest between big pharmaceutical companies and researchers. The hospital where he was set to work receives substantial funding from the makers of Prozac, the most widely-prescribed anti-depressant.
When it was her turn to take the microphone, Olivieri was no less scathing. The subject of a new independent report which is highly critical of U of T, Olivieri was fired and then eventually rehired by the U of T-affiliated Hospital for Sick Kids after she went public with concerns over a drug she was researching.
Olivieri condemned the “defamation, dismissal and harassment” inflicted on doctors, professors and researchers who speak out about the dangerous side effects of some medications.
“Academic freedom isn’t just a phrase,” said Olivieri, criticizing U of T president Robert Birgeneau for accepting a donation from Apotex for the new Pharmacy building, set for construction at the corner of College and Queen’s Park. Apotex made the drug Olivieri found possible problems with.
“If the U of T will overlook [my case] and take the donation, then this is a university that has absolutely no ethics at all.”
Ethicist and panel member Arthur Schafer compared the plight of researchers working with corporate donors to a “dance with a porcupine.”
“No one can accept any gift without feeling beholden to the person who gives it,” said Schafer.
“If you don’t dance with the devil, there won’t be new drugs coming out to treat diseases,” said Healy.
Second year Medical Sciences student Adam Fleming said business interests have already begun to influence his academic career. Without a scholarship from the Bank of Montreal, he explained, he would not be able to afford tuition.
Fleming hoped other students will to keep in mind “the need to stay honest, and to fight for it even when your profession doesn’t encourage rocking the boat.”
SAC University Affairs Commissioner Agata Durkalec said she felt “inspired and incensed” by the talk and hoped students will experience “a loss of naivety about the amount of academic freedom” at U of T. Doctors for Research Integrity is a non-profit organization committed to academic freedom and transparency in medical research. Chair Paul Ranalli, Durkalec and SAC president Alex Kerner hosted the forum, which was sponsored by the Canadian Association of University Teachers, the University of Toronto Faculty Association, the Canadian Association of University Teachers, the Alliance for Public Accountability, Canadian Health Coalition and the Medical Reform Group.
