This is a curious editorial from Sir Nicholas Wright, presumably
commissioned by the BMJ in an attempt to balance the extraordinary
accompanying article by journalist, Brian Deer. What is particularly
curious is the way Sir Nicholas emphasises that Wakefield was not formally
trained as a pathologist, was not a professional pathologist and was a
surgeon, not a pathologist, as pointed out three times by Deer. However,
as I understand it, Andrew Wakefield became a fellow of the Royal College
of Pathologists in November 2001 in recognition of his research
publications. [1] No doubt the Royal College of Pathologists would feel
slighted at the suggestion that they might throw fellowships at academic
lightweights.
Rapid Response:
Good fellows get the Fellowship
This is a curious editorial from Sir Nicholas Wright, presumably
commissioned by the BMJ in an attempt to balance the extraordinary
accompanying article by journalist, Brian Deer. What is particularly
curious is the way Sir Nicholas emphasises that Wakefield was not formally
trained as a pathologist, was not a professional pathologist and was a
surgeon, not a pathologist, as pointed out three times by Deer. However,
as I understand it, Andrew Wakefield became a fellow of the Royal College
of Pathologists in November 2001 in recognition of his research
publications. [1] No doubt the Royal College of Pathologists would feel
slighted at the suggestion that they might throw fellowships at academic
lightweights.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wakefield
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests