My husband, Charlie and I had the PLEASURE of meeting Dr. Wakefield while visiting Thoughtful House to see Dr. Krigsman July ‘08.  Another hero to the autism community, and my family.  Dr. Wakefield, you rock!

I highly recommend you follow the link below and watch the video of Dr. Wakefield’s ASA Keynote Address June 2007!

Dr. Andy Wakefield, MB BS FRCS FRCPath, is an academic gastroenterologist. He graduated in Medicine from St. Mary’s Hospital (part of the University of London) in 1981, pursuing a career in gastrointestinal surgery with a particular interest in inflammatory bowel disease. He qualified as Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1985, and in 1996 was awarded a Wellcome Trust Traveling Fellowship to study small-intestine transplantation in Toronto, Canada.

Discoveries made during his work in Canada led him on return to the UK to pursue the study of inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. In 1998, he and his colleagues at the Royal Free Hospital in London reported a novel inflammatory bowel disease in children with developmental disorders such as autism; the condition later became known as autistic enterocolitis. Dr. Wakefield resisted pressure to stop his research on the possible links between childhood immunizations, intestinal inflammation and autism, leaving the Royal Free School of Medicine in 2001. He is involved in many scientific research collaborations in the U.S and abroad, investigations centering on the immunologic, metabolic, and pathologic changes occurring in inflammatory bowel diseases such as autistic enterocolitis, links between intestinal disease and neurologic injury in children, and the possible relationship of these conditions to environmental causes, such as childhood vaccines.

During the course of his work on childhood developmental disorders, Dr. Wakefield was increasingly convinced of the need for a research-oriented, integrated bio-medical and educational approach to these disorders, in order to translate clinical benefits for affected children into measurable developmental progress; this is the driving aim of Thoughtful House. As of the beginning of 2007, Dr. Wakefield has published one hundred thirty-four original scientific articles, book chapters, and invited scientific commentaries. He was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists in 2001; he is medical advisor to the United Kingdom charity Visceral, and sits on the board of the U.S. charity Medical Interventions for Autism.

Web Links:

**Watch Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s ASA Keynote Address (July, 2007) (4th down on the list)

Dr. Wakefield’s conference presentation

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From The Austin American Statesman:

Wakefield: Advances in medical science demand ongoing scrutiny
Dr. Andrew J. Wakefield, LOCAL CONTRIBUTOR
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Do vaccines cause autism?

According to the former head of the National Institutes of Health, the question remains unanswered.

George Bernard Shaw once said that science never solves a problem without creating ten more. For every advance in medical science, in particular for vaccines given to healthy children, there must be ongoing scrutiny to look for those inevitable problems. This is a duty of modern science.

However, in a recent interview on CBS News, Dr. Bernadine Healy, the former head of the National Institutes of Health and member of the Institute of Medicine, acknowledged that public health officials have failed to fulfill that duty when it comes to the problem of autism.

Regarding the possibility that vaccines might contribute to autism, Dr. Healy acknowledged that many of her colleagues “don’t want to pursue a hypothesis because that hypothesis could be damaging to the public health community at large by scaring people.” Dr. Healy said that the government has been too quick to dismiss the concerns of these families without studying affected children.

Many others share this concern. Along with the many universities and research institutions that have published research investigating the safety of vaccines, she now joins all three presidential hopefuls, as well as many hundreds of thousands of parents worldwide, in insisting on an honest examination of this theory.

Faced with an epidemic of developmental disorders in children and increasing evidence of a link with childhood vaccines, Dr. Healy reiterated the position taken by parents and doctors for many years: that there may be a subset of children who, for genetic or other reasons, are susceptible to developing autism following vaccination.

Like many others, Dr. Healy had initially dismissed the vaccine-autism link based on a ’superficial’ understanding of the evidence gleaned from newspapers. However, as she looked deeper into the science, she realized that no study exists that demonstrates that our current recommended vaccine schedule is safe. She supports the kinds of studies that doctors and scientists at Thoughtful House Center for Children have advocated from the outset – meticulous investigations of affected children, and detailed testing of the childhood vaccine schedule in an appropriate animal model. She also endorsed strategies such as modifying the vaccine schedule in the vulnerable children to reduce the risk of complications, should this subset of children be identified.

Amazingly, animal safety testing has been applied to individual vaccines, but it has never been used to assess the real-world risks—that is, the cumulative effect of what is now as many as 38 vaccines in the recommended schedule before the age of 5 years.

Far too often doctors and researchers have been unfairly criticized for asking the very questions Dr. Healy is articulating. We and others in the autism community hope that Dr. Healy’s revelation will go far deeper than the expression of an individual’s opinion in a matter of public debate. It could be the tipping point for many in the public health community who have remained silent. We do not yet have the scientific answers, but as Dr. Healy confirms, we should not live in fear of asking the right questions.

The stakes are too high. If, after adequate studies, no link is found, then public confidence will be restored and the debate will be put to rest. If a link is established, then we can focus on identifying the subset of children that are vulnerable and be able to save them. It is the responsibility of the public health community and physicians to develop a safe vaccination schedule that protects everyone, without exception.

Andrew J. Wakefield is executive director of Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin.