Biographical Sketches
Stephen Barrett, M.D., a retired psychiatrist who resides near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has achieved national renown as an author, editor, and consumer advocate. In addition to heading Quackwatch, he is vice-president of the National Council Against Health Fraud, a scientific advisor to the American Council on Science and Health, and a Fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). In 1984, he received an FDA Commissioner's Special Citation Award for Public Service in fighting nutrition quackery. In 1986, he was awarded honorary membership in the American Dietetic Association. From 1987 through 1989, he taught health education at The Pennsylvania State University. He is listed in Marquis Who's Who in America and received the 2001 Distinguished Service to Health Education Award from the American Association for Health Education. out users of this site.
An expert in medical communications, Dr. Barrett operates 24 Web sites; edits Consumer Health Digest (a weekly electronic newsletter); is medical editor of Prometheus Books; and has been a peer-review panelist for several top medical journals. He has written more than 2,000 articles and delivered more than 300 talks at colleges, universities, medical schools, and professional meetings. His 50 books include The Health Robbers: A Close Look at Quackery in America and seven editions of the college textbook Consumer Health: A Guide to Intelligent Decisions. One book he edited, Vitamins and Minerals: Help or Harm?, by Charles Marshall, Ph.D., won the American Medical Writers Association award for best book of 1983 for the general public and became a special publication of Consumer Reports Books. His other classics include Dubious Cancer Treatment, published by the Florida Division of the American Cancer Society; Health Schemes, Scams, and Frauds, published by Consumer Reports Books; The Vitamin Pushers: How the "Health Food" Industry Is Selling America a Bill of Goods, published by Prometheus Books; and Reader's Guide to "Alternative" Health Methods, published by the American Medical Association. His media appearances include Dateline, the Today Show, Good Morning America, ABC Prime Time, Donahue, CNN, National Public Radio, and more than 200 radio and television talk show interviews.
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John Hammond, Ph.D., a political activist and expert in medical laboratory and information systems, is Professor Emeritus of Pathology & Lab Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. In addition to his doctoral degree in biochemistry, he holds a masters degree in biomedical engineering with specialization in medical informatics (how to use computers in medicine). During his 29-year academic career, in addition to teaching and doing research, he directed the clinical pathology and endocrinology laboratories at UNC Hospitals. While serving as director of laboratory computer services, he became a founding member of the team that developed the electronic medical record system that the UNC Hospital system has used since 1991. During the mid-1990s, while overseeing the financial aspects of the laboratory system, he became painfully aware of problems in our insurance system and became determined to do something about them. Since that time, he has lectured and written extensively about the need for insurance reform.
Now "retired," Dr. Hammond serves on the Orange County Organizing Committee’s healthcare subcommittee; the board of directors of the Chatham Economic Development Corporation; the board of trustees of North Carolina State Health Plan for Teachers and State Employee; and the North Carolina Social Services Commission (representing the Fourth Congressional District); In the political arena, he has served on the executive committee of North Carolina Democratic Party and has been promoting the election of candidates at all levels who support health insurance reform and greater social justice. He is also Chatham County's delegate to the Senior Tar Heel Legislature, which was created in 1993 to promote citizen involvement and make recommendations to the North Carolina General Assembly.
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This page was revised on August 12, 2009.