A Farewell Note

On January 1, 2008, Dr. Novella inaugurated the Science-Based Medicine blog.

. . . there are numerous and powerful influences in society that strongly appose the scientific basis of medicine. Driven by some combination of ideology or the desire for profit they wish to eliminate standards of science in health care, or (often under the guise of “health care freedom”) create a double standard in which unscientific methods and products can thrive unchecked. Others simply lack the training or knowledge to achieve minimal standards of quality for scientific medicine.

A group of medically-trained, gifted writers donated their time and talents in order to fight the anti-science group that had always existed from the fringes. One post grew to over 4,000.

I don't think anyone could have predicted that this turn of events would turn into a full-blown, sometimes government-backed attack on medical science or that this would happen in the midst of the first global Pandemic in a century. The anti-science movement of a scale previously unimagined would assume even greater importance in counteracting.

I wrote a guest post on June 7, 2010, complaining about the fact that state legislatures had allowed practitioners of pseudoscience to become licensed health care professionals. The first post called out state legislatures for shielding quacks from prosecution. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, it has become painfully obvious how dangerous this is.

This guest post turned into a regular gig for me. It is sad to announce that this will be my last regularly scheduled bi-weekly post.

It has been a pleasure to work with Dr. Novella and my boss, Dr. David Gorski. It has been an honor to call them my colleagues because I have learned so much from them. I was given carte blanche to write about a lot of different topics, some serious and others just plain wacky. I've had the pleasure of meeting many of you regular readers. The anticipation of your comments has kept me on my toes while drafting posts.

This doesn't mean I'm going to be quiet. It has become more important than ever to support good science as I watch my home state of Florida become an anti-science haven. As part of that effort, I plan to submit guest posts to the website. I will continue to be a loyal reader and sometimes a commenter.

I will see you back on SBM just not bi-weekly if you keep up the important work of defending science. Take care.