A group of 10 top doctors sent a letter to Columbia University this week demanding the school drop TV doctor Mehmet Oz as vice chairman of their surgery department, according to reports.
The letter accuses Oz, who is also a cardiovascular surgeon, of pushing unfounded “miracle” weight-loss supplements, showing “disdain for science and for evidence-based medicine” and “promoting quack treatments and cures in the interest of personal financial gain.”
Dr. Henry I. Miller of Stanford University penned the plea, addressed to Lee Goldman, dean of Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine at Columbia, and NYC-based Dr. Gilbert Ross of the American Council on Science and Health co-signed, along with eight others.
The university has not removed Oz, and issued a statement to the Associated Press on Thursday that said they are “committed to the principle of academic freedom and to upholding faculty members’ freedom of expression for statements they make in public discussion.”
Oz testified at a Senate hearing last summer about alleged deceptive advertising for green coffee bean extract, used as an over-the-counter diet supplement.
