Daniel A. Rossignol, MD,
FAAFP, is a
family medicine
Family medicine is a medical specialty within primary care that provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and family across all ages, genders, diseases, and parts of the body. The specialist, who is usually a primary ...
doctor.
Rossignol runs the Rossignol Medical Center, with offices in Melbourne, Florida and in
Aliso Viejo, California
Aliso Viejo (Spanish for "Old Sycamore") is a city in the San Joaquin Hills of southern Orange County, California. It had a population of 47,823 as of the 2010 census, up from 40,166 as of the 2000 census. It became Orange County's 34th city on ...
.
[ He also works at the Wisconsin Integrative Hyperbaric Center in ]Fitchburg, Wisconsin
Fitchburg is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 29,609 at the 2020 census. Fitchburg is a suburb of Madison and is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. Fitchburg consists of a mix of suburban neighbor ...
, and is a member of the physician advisory board for The Autism Community in Action
The Autism Community in Action (TACA) (formerly known as Talk About Curing Autism) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2000 by Lisa Ackerman and based in Irvine, California. The mission statement is "TACA provides education, support and hope ...
(TACA; formerly Talk About Curing Autism). Rossignol is known for his advocacy of certain autism therapies
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
.
Education
Rossignol received his MD from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and completed his residency in family medicine
Family medicine is a medical specialty within primary care that provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and family across all ages, genders, diseases, and parts of the body. The specialist, who is usually a primary ...
at the University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
.
Research
Rossignol's website states that he has published 47 scientific papers, whereas Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes p ...
lists 37. Also according to Google Scholar, Rossignol has an h-index
The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with obvious success indicators such as winn ...
of 12. He is best known for publishing randomized clinical trials of hyperbaric oxygen therapy
Hyperbaric medicine is medical treatment in which an ambient pressure greater than sea level atmospheric pressure is a necessary component. The treatment comprises hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), the medical use of oxygen at an ambient pressure ...
(HBOT) for children with autism, having originally proposed their use for the condition in a 2006 non-peer review
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...
ed paper in ''Medical Hypotheses
''Medical Hypotheses'' is a not-conventionally-peer reviewed medical journal published by Elsevier. It was originally intended as a forum for unconventional ideas without the traditional filter of scientific peer review, "as long as (the ideas) are ...
''. These trials have usually concluded that it is safe, and that it may be effective, but that further study is needed before it can be said to have been proven effective. With regard to one of these studies, published in 2009, Rossignol said, "We wanted to do a formal study that looked to see if this was even a valid treatment," and "We hoped to stimulate more research." He has received the Edgar End Memorial Award from the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society
The underwater environment is the region below the surface of, and immersed in, liquid water in a natural or artificial feature (called a body of water), such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, reservoir, river, canal, or aquifer. Some characteris ...
for his HBOT-related research.[ Some of Rossignol's other research has focused on the prevalence of ]mitochondrial disease
Mitochondrial disease is a group of disorders caused by mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondria are the organelles that generate energy for the cell and are found in every cell of the human body except red blood cells. They convert the energy of ...
in autistic children, and has concluded that mitochondrial disorders are more common among autistic children than neurotypical children. With regard to this study, Cecilia Giulivi of the University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...
agreed that it appeared from Rossignol's paper that there is indeed a higher incidence of mitochondrial disease among autistic individuals. In addition, Rossignol and Richard E. Frye teamed up to conduct a meta-analysis on the efficacy of melatonin
Melatonin is a natural product found in plants and animals. It is primarily known in animals as a hormone released by the pineal gland in the brain at night, and has long been associated with control of the sleep–wake cycle.
In vertebrates ...
supplements as a treatment for autism. They published their findings in 2011, and while they concluded that it is associated with "improved sleep parameters, better daytime behavior, and minimal side effects," they also called for more research to confirm their findings. A follow-up paper by the same two authors, published on September 20, 2013, as an Epub ahead of print, came to similar conclusions.
Criticism
Rossignol's best-known paper is a clinical trial of HBOT published in 2009, which received widespread media attention.[ Critics of this research include ]Steven Novella
Steven Paul Novella (born July 29, 1964) is an American clinical neurologist and associate professor at Yale University School of Medicine. Novella is best known for his involvement in the skeptical movement as a host of ''The Skeptics' Guide t ...
, who has noted that Rossignol provides HBOT in his clinical practice and therefore "stands to gain personally if its effectiveness is proven." Its methodology was also subject to some criticism, for example by Paul Offit
Paul Allan Offit (born March 27, 1951) is an American pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases, vaccines, immunology, and virology. He is the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine. Offit is the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology, ...
, who argued that "it was possible that at least some parents could tell whether the treatment was active or not, leading to possible observer bias that was not controlled in the study," in contrast to Rossignol et al.'s claim that the parents in the study did not know whether their child had received real HBOT as opposed to the sham version. In addition, John Gever and Steven Novella[ noted that this study only measured autistic symptoms for four weeks. Additionally, the ]Committee for the Advancement of Scientific Skepticism
The Centre for Inquiry Canada (CFIC) is a not-for-profit educational organization with headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Canadian organization was founded as a member and volunteer driven organization in 2007. It is the Canadian affili ...
wrote that Rossignol's 2009 study "...measured a baseline level of ASD based on three indices ne of which has been discreditedand then measured the degree of improvement within the two groups. There were no comparisons between the placebo and treatment groups, which is essential to determine if there was any benefit for treatment with HBOT. As a result, no firm conclusions about the usefulness of HBOT in the treatment of ASD can be made based on the results of this study." Similarly, Aetna
Aetna Inc. () is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans, ...
released a policy brief on HBOT in which they stated that, in this study, "There were no significant differences between treatment and control groups in total score, and in the subscales for speech, sociability, and health," and Richard Mills noted that because "children with autism often struggle with other medical issues," "it is difficult to discern exactly which condition hyperbaric therapy might benefit." In response to this criticism, Rossignol has said that "kids who receive the same number of sessions outside of research settings often remain better for longer han the four week period during which their symptoms were monitored in the study" and that "You wouldn't anticipate a physician who wasn't doing hyperbaric-oxygen therapy to actually conduct a study of it. Oftentimes when things are new — and this is kind of a new finding — the people who do the studies are going to be those who are involved in it to begin with."
Lawsuit
In 2010, Rossignol was sued in Cook County Circuit Court
The Circuit Court of Cook County is the largest of the 24 judicial circuits in Illinois as well as one of the largest unified court systems in the United States — second only in size to the Superior Court of Los Angeles County since that court ...
by James Coman, who alleged that Rossignol, along with another family practice physician, Anjum Usman of Naperville
Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage and Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is in the Chicago metro area, west of the city.
Naperville was founded in 1831 by Joseph Naper. The city was established by the banks of the DuPage river, ...
, had administered "dangerous and unnecessary experimental treatments", including chelation therapy
Chelation therapy is a medical procedure that involves the administration of Chelation, chelating agents to remove heavy metals from the body. Chelation therapy has a long history of use in clinical toxicology and remains in use for some very sp ...
, to Coman's son, who was 7 years old at the time.
Personal life
Rossignol is married to Lanier Watkins Rossignol (formerly known as Elizabeth Lanier Watkins). They have two sons, Isaiah and Joshua, both of whom have autism. Lanier has been licensed as a registered nurse
A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to o ...
since 1996 and resides in Aliso Viejo, California
Aliso Viejo (Spanish for "Old Sycamore") is a city in the San Joaquin Hills of southern Orange County, California. It had a population of 47,823 as of the 2010 census, up from 40,166 as of the 2000 census. It became Orange County's 34th city on ...
. Rossignol has said he was first introduced to HBOT
Hyperbaric medicine is medical treatment in which an ambient pressure greater than sea level atmospheric pressure is a necessary component. The treatment comprises hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), the medical use of oxygen at an ambient pressure ...
when his wife suggested using it on their sons,[ which he then proceeded to do.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rossignol, Dan A.
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Medical College of Virginia alumni
Autism researchers
University of Virginia School of Medicine alumni
University of Virginia alumni