Amir Attaran
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Amir Attaran ( fa, امیر عطاران) is an American and Canadian professor in both the Faculty of Law and the School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Community Medicine at the
University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...
.


Early life and education

Attaran was born in
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
to immigrants from
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. He attended public schools in the
Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
area. Attaran earned a B.A. in neuroscience from the
University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
, after which he worked in the x-ray crystallography laboratory of Professor Robert Stroud at the
University of California at San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It condu ...
on a project to determine the 3-D structure of the
nicotinic acetylcholine receptor Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, or nAChRs, are receptor polypeptides that respond to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Nicotinic receptors also respond to drugs such as the agonist nicotine. They are found in the central and peripheral ne ...
. Attaran received a predoctoral fellowship from the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American business magnate, investor, record-setting pilot, engineer, fil ...
for graduate studies in the biomedical sciences, leading to degrees from
Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
(M.S., 1992) and
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
(D.Phil., 1996). At Oxford, he matriculated to
Wadham College Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...
and studied under Professor David Shotton of the Department of Zoology and Professor Alain Townsend of the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine. His doctoral thesis examined how killer T-cells modify themselves structurally in response to viral infections as a precursor to granulocyte- and apoptosis-mediated cytotoxicity, and is entitled ''CTL Cytotoxicity and the Cytoskeleton: A Microscopial Study''. While at Oxford pursuing his science doctorate, Attaran simultaneously enrolled in law school at the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...
in Vancouver. He graduated with an LL.B., was
called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
in 1999, and has been a barrister and solicitor of the Law Society of Upper Canada since 2005. From 2000 to 2003, Attaran held a junior academic position at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in the Kennedy School of Government, where his research focus was on public health law and policy. At Harvard he co-directed the WHO Commission on Macroeconomics and Health in the Center for International Development under
Jeffrey Sachs Jeffrey David Sachs () (born 5 November 1954) is an American economist, academic, public policy analyst, and former director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, where he holds the title of University Professor. He is known for his work ...
, and researched the influence of patent law on the ability of patients to access life-saving medicines and the human
right to health The right to health is the economic, social, and cultural right to a universal minimum standard of health to which all individuals are entitled. The concept of a right to health has been enumerated in international agreements which include the U ...
at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy under Michael Ignatieff. From 2003 to 2005, Attaran taught at
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
in the School of Public Health, and was a fellow at
Chatham House Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, is an independent policy institute headquartered in London. Its stated mission is to provide commentary on world events and offer solutions to global challenges. It is ...
(formerly the Royal Institute of International Affairs) in London, where he researched global development, patent law, and access to essential medicines for neglected diseases such as malaria.


Notable work

Attaran has had a diverse career as a scientist, lawyer, scholar, and advocate for public health, human rights and environmental protection. In 1999 and 2000, Attaran was an environmental lawyer participating in the negotiation of the
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is an international environmental treaty, signed on 22 May 2001 in Stockholm and effective from 17 May 2004, that aims to eliminate or restrict the production and use of persistent organic ...
, which banned the manufacturing and use of certain toxic substances. Attaran led a controversial global campaign of over 400 scientists and medical doctors, including several
Nobel laureates The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make ou ...
, who wanted an exemption to use
DDT Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...
in public health because it is extremely effective in reducing the deaths of children from malaria. South Africa's Medical Research Council subsequently invited Attaran to draft the public health exemption, which countries agreed at the sixth and last negotiation session in Johannesburg as Annex B of the Stockholm Convention. Although once opposed, Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund now accept using DDT in small amounts for public health, and the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
adopted it as a recommended malaria control strategy. In 2001, Attaran acted as an advisor on patent and trade law to Brazil's Ministry of Health, to defend against a legal challenge the United States brought at the World Trade Organization, which sought to force Brazil to amend its patent laws and prohibit the affordable, generic versions of HIV/AIDS medicines on which the health ministry depended. Attaran and his colleague Paul Champ developed a legal strategy involving a retaliatory challenge to US patent laws. The United States withdrew its case under public pressure and Brazil continued using generic HIV/AIDS medicines for its population. In 2001, Attaran and Jeffrey Sachs, then at Harvard working on the WHO Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, published an influential paper in ''The Lancet'' that the editors of that journal suggested may be the "blueprint" for fighting the global HIV/AIDS pandemic on a large scale. Attaran and Sachs proposed a new, multibillion-dollar fund that would be "based on grants, not loans, for the poorest countries", and which would be "judged as having epidemiological merit ... by a panel of independent scientific experts." Attaran and Sachs' policy innovations were widely championed by advocates, and incorporated into the design of the
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (or simply the Global Fund) is an international financing and partnership organization that aims to "attract, leverage and invest additional resources to end the epidemics of HIV/AIDS, t ...
which launched later that year. The Fund has since saved over 20 million lives. Attaran and human rights lawyer Paul Champ acted as legal counsel for
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
and the
BC Civil Liberties Association The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) is an autonomous, non-partisan charitable society that seeks to "promote, defend, sustain, and extend civil liberties and human rights." It works towards achieving this purpose through ...
in a judicial review of the Canadian Forces' detainee policy. Although the Federal Courts found that torture could not be justified under s. 7 of the ''
Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part o ...
'', it ruled that the ''Charter'' lacks extraterritorial reach to the Canadian Forces' overseas military expeditions. Nonetheless, the Court's decision confirmed that Canada knew about detainees being tortured, as with a man who had "bruising ... consistent with the beating edescribed", and whose story was corroborated by "Canadian personnel ocatinga large piece of braided electrical wire and a rubber hose" in the interrogation room. The Court's ruling that "Canadian Forces will undoubtedly have to give very careful consideration as to whether it is indeed possible to resume such transfers in the future without exposing detainees to a substantial risk of torture" led to strengthening the detainee policy shortly thereafter. From 2009 to 2015, Attaran litigated a case at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario which sought to expand the reproductive rights of women and men by compelling the
Ontario Health Insurance Plan The Ontario Health Insurance Plan ( French: ''Assurance-Santé de l'Ontario''), commonly known in both official languages by the acronym OHIP (pronounced ), is the government- run health insurance plan for the Canadian province of Ontario. OHI ...
to fund ''in vitro'' fertilization irrespective of sex or disability. Ontario's practice had been to provide IVF only when a woman was infertile, and only where her disability affected the fallopian tubes, thereby excluding other forms of female infertility disability (e.g. cancer, endometriosis), and entirely excluding infertile men. The litigation convinced Ontario to strike an advisory panel on infertility that included Attaran in exchange for him adjourning the hearing, the result of which was that the province finally accepted to fund IVF, mooting the legal challenge. In 2008, Attaran wrote a ''
Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' opinion piece critical of the Department of National Defence (DND) for supporting Canada's involvement in the war in Afghanistan through the undisclosed financing of think tanks and academics favourable to Canada's involvement, alleging that the latter could be viewed as tainted. Attaran faced fierce reactions from the DND "who sent in a letter of protest to the Globe as did several defence academics;" and that, in an exchange with one of those "defence academics", military historian J.L. Granatstein, Attaran pointed out that Granatstein himself had received an award of $5000 from an Ottawa-based think tank. In 2012, Attaran filed a complaint against right-wing political commentator Ezra Levant, who was also a lawyer called to the Alberta bar. Levant told a Hispanic banana company executive "''chinga tu madre''" ("go fuck your mother") on his Sun TV show. The
Law Society of Alberta The Law Society of Alberta (LSA) is the self-regulating body for lawyers in Alberta, Canada, established in 1907 which derives its authority from the Legal Profession Act of the Government of Alberta. Its main office is located in Calgary. As ...
initially withdrew the charges, but Alberta Court of Queen's Bench Justice Dawn Pentelechuk said the society's explanation for doing so was "unsatisfactory and unclear" and ordered a hearing to determine if they had committed an abuse of process. Levant ultimately resigned from the bar in March, 2016 rather than face a disciplinary hearing. Attaran criticized the law society for allowing Levant to resign without reprimand, saying that it breached their own rules. In 2013, Attaran accused
Peter MacKay Peter Gordon MacKay (born September 27, 1965) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2015 and has served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General (2013–2015), Minister of National Defence (2007 ...
of falsely alleging that
Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...
committed a crime by smoking marijuana. In dismissing the complaint, the
Nova Scotia Barristers' Society The Nova Scotia Barristers' Society is the statutory body charged with the regulation of the legal profession in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The Barristers' Society is a member of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, an associatio ...
said there was no evidence to suggest MacKay knew he was saying something false. MacKay was Attorney General of Canada at the time. In 2016, Attaran filed a complaint at the Canadian Human Rights Commission alleging that the federal government's Canada Research Chair program discriminated against women, visible minorities, aboriginal people, and persons with disabilities. Attaran brought legal challenge after the CRC Program's decade-long failure to honour a settlement agreement signed by the government of Prime Minister
Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
, setting firm employment equity targets for these four groups. The government under Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...
sided with Attaran, and in 2017 Science Minister
Kirsty Duncan Kirsty Ellen Duncan (born October 31, 1966) is a Canadian politician and medical geographer from Ontario, Canada. Duncan is the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Toronto riding of Etobicoke North and Duncan serves as deputy leader of the govern ...
announced that universities would be required either to increase diversity and meet the employment equity targets, or lose their federal CRC funding. During the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, Attaran wrote a series of opinion pieces for ''
Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian perspe ...
'' that were critical of the Canadian government's response. In May 2022, he filed a private criminal prosecution against Ontario premier
Doug Ford Douglas Robert Ford Jr. (born November 20, 1964) is a Canadian politician and businessman who has served as the 26th and current premier of Ontario since June 2018 and leader of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party since March 2018. He ...
for allegedly breaking federal quarantine law during a March press conference.


Controversies

Attaran has been involved in additional controversies over the years regarding his comments made online and alleged racism towards himself. In 2016, Attaran, who self-identifies as an American émigré, alleged that he was denied a
Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...
promotion based on racial bias. He then filed a discrimination lawsuit against the University of Ottawa through Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. Attaran's claims were not proven in court, a confidential settlement having been reached with the university. In July 2019, Attaran was accused of
elitism Elitism is the belief or notion that individuals who form an elite—a select group of people perceived as having an intrinsic quality, high intellect, wealth, power, notability, special skills, or experience—are more likely to be constructi ...
for calling the conservatives the "party of the uneducated". In January 2020, Attaran publicly blamed president Trump for the shootdown of
Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752/AUI752) was a scheduled international civilian passenger flight from Tehran to Kyiv, operated by Ukraine International Airlines. On 8January 2020, the Boeing 737-800 flying the route was shot dow ...
, a disaster that later turned out to be a deliberate act of terrorism perpetrated by
IRGC The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...
according to an Ontario court. In June 2020, Attaran wrote on Twitter: "In my experience as a brown guy at a bilingual university on the Quebec–Ontario border, there is plenty of racism, and more often than not when it speaks to me the first word is 'Bonjour'." He was later accused of
francophobia Anti-French sentiment (Francophobia or Gallophobia) is fear or antagonism of France, the French people, French culture, the French government or the Francophonie (set of political entities that use French as an official language or whose French-s ...
and Quebec bashing by officials of the province. Attaran made similar comments targeting French-speaking professors in October 2020. In December 2020, Attaran was heavily criticized for comparing "US nationalism" to "Quebec nationalism". Attaran also claimed that racism was "way out there" in Quebec, and claimed that Francophones in Quebec do not form a group targeted by hateful speech. In March 2021, Attaran described the death of Joyce Echaquan, an Indigenous woman, while in the care of Quebec healthcare personnel as a "medical lynching". He also wrote that Quebec was led by a "white supremacist government" for its failure to accept
systemic racism Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of racism that is embedded in the laws and regulations of a society or an organization. It manifests as discrimination in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, healt ...
as real, and called Quebec's culture racist. The University of Ottawa, his employer, officially disapproved and qualified Attaran's comments as "offensive" and "not in any way reflect ngthe values of respect, inclusion and diversity in which
hey Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...
believe", but stated that the university will not intervene because his comments were protected by the freedom of speech. Attaran's comments prompted rebuke from politicians, with Premier
François Legault François Legault (; born May 26, 1957) is a Canadian politician serving as the 32nd premier of Quebec since 2018. A member of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), he has led the party since its founding in 2011. Legault sits as a member of the ...
calling them unacceptable and the Prime Minister describing it as "Quebec-bashing". In 2021, Attaran's tweet calling for Justin Trudeau to be "tarred and feathered" led to his suspension from the social media platform. In June 2022, Attaran was involved in a Twitter controversy after posting a photo of an unmasked
United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.
employee, stating that masks are required on all flights out of Canada and calling for the banning of United Airlines in Canada.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Attaran, Amir Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of California, Berkeley alumni Lawyers in Ontario Peter A. Allard School of Law alumni Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Canadian people of Iranian descent 20th-century Canadian lawyers Naturalized citizens of Canada Canada Research Chairs California Institute of Technology alumni University of Ottawa faculty