Sidney M. Wolfe
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Sidney M. Wolfe is an American
physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
and the co-founder and director of
Public Citizen Public Citizen is a non-profit, Progressivism in the United States, progressive consumer rights advocacy group and think tank based in Washington, D.C., United States, with a branch in Austin, Texas, Austin, Texas. Lobbying efforts Public Citizen ...
's Health Research Group, a consumer and
health advocacy Health advocacy or health activism encompasses direct service to the individual or family as well as activities that promote health and access to health care in communities and the larger public. Advocates support and promote the rights of the pa ...
lobbying organization. He has publicly crusaded against many pharmaceutical drugs, which he and his organization believe to be a danger to public health.


Biography

After earning his medical degree at Case Western Reserve University,
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
,
Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, Wolfe completed an internship and residency in internal medicine. Beginning in 1966 he researched blood-clotting and
alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...
at the
National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
. He met consumer advocate
Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the U ...
in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
at a meeting of the American Patients Association, and advised Nader on health problems in the United States. Wolfe co-founded the consumer lobbying organization Health Research Group with Nader in 1971 and has been its Director ever since. Since 1995 he has been an Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine at the
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Case Western Reserve School of Medicine (CWRU SOM, CaseMed) is the medical school of Case Western Reserve University, a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It is the largest biomedical research center in Ohio. History On November ...
. For more than 30 years, Wolfe campaigned to have
propoxyphene Dextropropoxyphene is an analgesic in the opioid category, patented in 1955 and manufactured by Eli Lilly and Company. It is an optical isomer of levopropoxyphene. It is intended to treat mild pain and also has antitussive (cough suppressant) ...
(''Darvon'', ''Darvocet'') removed from the American market, because it can cause heart arrhythmias. In 2009, a
U.S. Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...
(FDA) advisory panel recommended that it be withdrawn from the market. The recommendation to ban the drug was ultimately not upheld and instead manufacturers were required to place additional warning labels on packaging. In 2009, Wolfe was appointed to the FDA's Drug Safety and Risk Management Committee. On November 19, 2010, the FDA recommended against continued prescribing and use of propoxyphene. Other drugs that Wolfe has campaigned against include Yaz, Yasmin, Phenacetin, Oraflex, Zomax,
Vioxx Rofecoxib is a COX-2 selective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). It was marketed by Merck & Co. to treat osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, acute pain conditions, migraine, and dysmenorrhea. Rofecoxib ...
, Baycol and many others. Wolfe has been interviewed on television by
Phil Donahue Phillip John Donahue (born December 21, 1935) is an American media personality, writer, film producer and the creator and host of ''The Phil Donahue Show''. The television program, later known simply as ''Donahue'', was the first talk show forma ...
, Barbara Walters,
Bill Moyers Bill Moyers (born Billy Don Moyers, June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Counci ...
, and Oprah Winfrey. He writes for the '' Huffington Post''. Wolfe is currently a member of the Society for General Internal Medicine.


Awards

* MacArthur Fellows Program (1990)


Works


Books

*''Off Diabetes Pills: A Diabetic's Guide to Longer Life'' (1978) with Rebecca Warner; Health Research Group *''Pills That Don't Work: A Consumers' and Doctors' Guide to Over 600 Prescription Drugs That Lack Evidence of Effectiveness'';
Farrar, Straus & Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...
; Revised edition (1981), with Christopher M. Coley & the Health Research Group *''Worst Pills, Best Pills: A Consumer's Guide to Avoiding Drug-Induced Death or Illness'' (1990), with Larry D. Sasich and Peter Lurie;
Gallery Books Gallery Publishing Group is a general interest publisher and a division of Simon & Schuster which houses the imprints Gallery Books, Pocket Books, Scout Press, Gallery 13, and Saga Press. Jen Bergstrom is the Senior Vice President and Publisher. ...
**''Worst Pills Best Pills II: The Older Adult's Guide to Avoiding Drug-Induced Death or Illness: 119 Pills You Should Not Use: 245 Safer Alternatives'' (1993), with Rose-Ellen Hope, Paul D. Stolley & the Health Research Group **''Worst Pills, Best Pills'' (1999 edition)
''Worst Pills, Best Pills''
(2005),
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...
, * *''Unnecessary Cesarean Sections: Curing a National Epidemic State Report for Illinois'', with Mary Gabay & the Public Citizen Group (1994) *''Questionable Doctors; Disciplined by States or the Federal Government''; Public Citizen Health Research Group; 1996 edition **''2,815 Questionable Doctors; Disciplined by State and Federal Governments, Region 4: California, Hawaii'', with Phyllis McCarthy, John Paul Fawcett, and Benita Marcus Adler; Public Citizen's Health Research Group; 2002 edition


Articles, book chapters


"Unethical Trials of Interventions to Reduce Perinatal Transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Developing Countries"
In: ''Bioethics: An Anthology'' (2006), Editors: Helga Kuhse, Peter Singer, Wiley-Blackwell,


Films

*''Certain Adverse Events'' (2012), documentary film (Wolfe as interviewee)


References


External links


Public Citizen website

Worst Pills Best Pills
*

''Washington Post'', Abigail Trafford, July 6, 1999 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfe, Sidney M Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American health activists Physicians from Ohio People from Shaker Heights, Ohio Public Citizen Activists from Ohio MacArthur Fellows