Andrew Wakefield: podcast appearances and interviews

Andrew Jeremy Wakefield, born on September 3, 1956, is a former senior surgeon and gastroenterologist associated with the Royal Free Hospital in London. He served as a surgeon on the liver transplant programme and was a senior lecturer and honorary consultant in experimental gastroenterology at the Royal Free and University College School of Medicine. Wakefield resigned from these positions in 2001 and subsequently moved to the United States, where he co-founded and worked at the Thoughtful House research centre in Austin, Texas. He served as its executive director until 2010, when regulatory findings led to his departure. Wakefield is known for his involvement in a 1998 publication in The Lancet that claimed to have identified a novel form of enterocolitis linked to autism. His research was later discredited; an investigation by the British General Medical Council found him to have been dishonest and acting against patients' interests. The Lancet retracted the paper, and Wakefield was struck off the UK medical register. The investigation revealed undisclosed financial conflicts of interest, and Wakefield was accused of deliberate falsification of research. His work and claims have been widely discredited by other researchers and the medical community. Wakefield has become a prominent figure in anti-vaccination activism, directing a film in 2016 titled Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe. His career has been marked by controversy and misconduct allegations, leading to the revocation of his medical credentials and broad condemnation within the scientific community.