Andrew Wakefield
| Andrew Wakefield | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1957 (age 59–60) Eton, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | King Edward's School, Bath |
| Alma mater | St Mary's Hospital Medical School, London |
| Occupation | Former physician, researcher |
| Known for | MMR vaccine controversy |
| Home town | Bath, England |
Andrew Jeremy Wakefield (born 1957) is a British former gastroenterologist and medical researcher who was struck off the UK medical register for his fraudulent 1998 research paper, and other proven charges of misconduct, in support of the now-discredited claim that there was a link between the administration of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, and the appearance of autism and bowel disease.
After the publication of the paper, other researchers were unable to reproduce Wakefield's findings or confirm his hypothesis of an association between the MMR vaccine and autism, or autism and gastrointestinal disease. A 2004 investigation by Sunday Times reporter Brian Deer identified undisclosed financial conflicts of interest on Wakefield's part, and most of his co-authors then withdrew their support for the study's interpretations. The British General Medical Council (GMC) conducted an inquiry into allegations of misconduct against Wakefield and two former colleagues. The investigation centred on Deer's numerous findings, including that children with autism were subjected to unnecessary invasive medical procedures such as colonoscopies and lumbar punctures, and that Wakefield acted without the required ethical approval from an institutional review board.
On 28 January 2010, a five-member statutory tribunal of the GMC found three dozen charges proved, including four counts of dishonesty and 12 counts involving the abuse of developmentally challenged children. The panel ruled that Wakefield had "failed in his duties as a responsible consultant", acted both against the interests of his patients, and "dishonestly and irresponsibly" in his published research.The Lancet fully retracted the 1998 publication on the basis of the GMC's findings, noting that elements of the manuscript had been falsified.The Lancet's editor-in-chief Richard Horton said the paper was "utterly false" and that the journal had been "deceived". Three months following The Lancet's retraction, Wakefield was struck off the UK medical register, with a statement identifying deliberate falsification in the research published in The Lancet, and was thereby barred from practising medicine in the UK.
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