There is now more health research and sources of health information than ever, and survey research tells us that the public has a strong interest in both health science and information about healthy living.
Despite this reality, there remains deep confusion regarding the individual and population actions that can maintain and improve our health, such as nutrition, exercise and weight management.
Dangerous myths (such as those associated with vaccination) and pseudoscientific belief systems (such as those underlying practices like
homeopathy and cleansing) seem to be gaining traction.
This talk will explore both how science is spun and why misperceptions persist. We will see that a complex interplay of various social and psychological forces conspire to twist what we all hear and believe about health research, including publication bias, ideological agendas,
marketing pressures, media spin and even celebrity endorsements.
Presenter: Timothy Caulfield
Timothy Caulfield is a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy and a Professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta. He has been the Research Director of the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta since 1993.
Over the past several years he has been involved in a variety of interdisciplinary research endeavours that have allowed him to publish over 250 articles and book chapters. He is a Fellow of the Trudeau Foundation, a Health Senior Scholar with the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research and the Principal Investigator for a number of large interdisciplinary health related projects.
Professor Caulfield is and has been involved with a number of national and international policy and research ethics committees. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He writes frequently for the popular press on a range of health issues.
Title: ‘Health Myths and the Forces that Twist’
Speaker: Professor Timothy Caulfield, University of Alberta, Faculty of Law
When: Wednesday 9 July 2014, 7.00pm
Venue: Moot Court Room, Ligertwood Building, Adelaide Law School, North Terrace
Enquiries: Associate Professor Bernadette Richards
RSVP: Essential by Monday 7 July, online at eventbrite