Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

I wrote a piece which appeared both here and on the Brainstorm blog at the Chronicle of Higher Education that apparently caught the attention of someone in the university administration. For background, please see: Why Would An Academic Health Center Support Homeopathy?

Drs. Frank Cerra and Aaron Friedman sent a response that I posted on the Chronicle site as well as below. Please note that it does not even mention my original post topic which was homeopathy. I've put in some brief comments on some of the more egregious statments.

Response: Why Would an Academic Health Center Support Homeopathy?

Guest Post: Dr. Frank Cerra, former Vice President, University of Minnesota Academic Health Center and Medical School Dean Dr. Aaron Friedman, Vice President, University of Minesota Academic Health Center and Medical School Dean


The post was about homeopathy, gentlemen...

Including helpful suggestions on the AHC website about homeopathy and advice about how to select a practioner + employment by the CSH of homeopathy practitioners?

Absolutely false, gentlemen. The post was about the CSH wasting its resources on homeopathy. A fact that all the circumlocution in the world cannot obscure.

And what does the NIH say about homeopathy, gentlemen. From my first post: In a 2010 report, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health, said that the key concepts of homeopathy "are not consistent with the established laws of science."


Wow, the (dubious) claim that since we can "make money" on CSH, this somehow justifies the practice of homeopathy. I thought universities were supposed to be pursuing truth. If astrology could bring in the bucks, that would be OK? Alchemy? Faith Healing?

Homeopathy?

And who said this? You are tap dancing around the "H" word, gentlemen.

This is a pathetic response from the present and former deans of the University of Minnesota medical school. Presumably they have taken chemistry courses at some point and are both aware of Avogadro's number. There is no medicine in homeopathic medicine, gentlemen. This is a pitiful and evasive answer to my original question: Why would an Academic Health Center support homeopathy?