Champions

Champions for Change

For many years, individuals from around the world have been sharing their concerns about the dominant influence the pharmaceutical industry has on the medical system, including corruption. This 2022 article, for example, exposes the financial and scientific corruption of clinical trials of seven psychiatric drugs that were approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the United States from 2013 to 2017.

The 40 people listed below are Champions for Change to the global medical system. Some of them had major career setbacks as scientists and university professors when they challenged the medical system, and others started speaking out publicly after losing a loved one to an adverse reaction to a prescription drug.

The Champions are listed in alphabetical order by last name. If you click on their name, you can watch short videos with messages from past interviews that support the need for changes to the medical system. Many of their messages support the need for people to ask their doctor questions and research the side effects of a drug before getting a prescription filled, and for doctors to obtain informed consent, which is a legal requirement that requires doctors to discuss four things with patients (parents, guardians or caregivers):

  1. Nature of the procedure or intervention;
  2. Risks and benefits of the procedure or intervention;
  3. Reasonable alternatives;
  4. Risks and benefits of alternatives.

All the Champions would probably endorse the need to “start a revolution” globally, not just in the United States, as described by Los Angeles Times investigative reporter Melody Petersen at the end of her 2008 book Our Daily Meds.

What might help spark a revolution is for patients to demand that doctors obtain informed consent before prescribing a drug. What patients might quickly realize is that doctors are almost always breaking the law because they have not been formally educated to obtain informed consent.

For decades, pharmaceutical companies have had a dominant influence on medical school curriculums. As a result, doctors receive little, if any, training about alternatives to prescription drugs for treating medical conditions. In this 45-second video, for example, alternative products or services for treating depression are not on the radar of Cheyenne, Wyoming psychiatrist Jasper Chen. He says without hesitation in this October 25, 2023 interview with FOX/ABC News to help promote an Antidepressant Safety Day that the way to deal with a serious adverse reaction to an SSRI antidepressant is to “immediately switch to a different type of medication.”

Champions for Change

  1. Dr. Carol Banyas, integrative psychiatrist, United States
  2. Dr. Charles Bennett, hematologist and oncologist, United States
  3. Angela Bischoff, drug safety advocate, Canada
  4. Maria Bradshaw, founder of CASPER, New Zealand
  5. Dr. Peter Breggin, psychiatrist, United States
  6. Shawn Buckley, constitutional lawyer and president of NHPPA, Canada
  7. Alan Cassels, pharmaceutical policy researcher, Canada
  8. Kim Crespi, drug safety advocate, United States
  9. Lynn Cunningham, co-producer/director of Medicating Normal, United States
  10. Laura Delano, co-founder of Inner Compass Initiative, United States
  11. Wendy Dolin, founder of MISSD, United States
  12. Mathy Downing, drug safety advocate, United States
  13. Dr. Selma Eikelenboom-Schieveld, forensic scientist, United States
  14. Dr. Allen Frances, chair of DSM-IV task force, United States
  15. Dr. Joseph Glenmullen, psychiatrist, United States
  16. Dr. Ben Goldacre, director of Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science, England
  17. Jim Gottstein, human rights lawyer, United States
  18. Dr. Peter C. Gotzsche, specialist in internal medicine, Denmark
  19. Blair Hamrick, GSK whistleblower, United States
  20. Dr. David Healy, psychiatrist and psychopharmacologist, Wales
  21. Dr. Fred Hui, integrative medicine doctor, Canada
  22. Dr. Thomas Insel, former director of NIMH, United States
  23. Dr. Bonnie Kaplan, health researcher, Canada  
  24. Dr. Irving Kirsch, psychologist and placebo effect researcher, United States
  25. Dr. Joseph Mercola, osteophathic physician, United States
  26. Dr. Joel Lexchin, retired emergency physician and health policy analyst, Canada
  27. Dr. Joanna Moncrieff, psychiatrist, England
  28. Katinka Blackford Newman, founder of Antidepressant Risks, England
  29. Dr. Gary Null, alternative medicine advocate, United States
  30. Melody Petersen, investigative reporter, United States
  31. Dr. Nancy Olivieri, hematologist, Canada
  32. Dr. Charles Popper, integrative psychiatrist and psychopharmacologist, United States
  33. Wendy Ractliffe, co-producer/director of Medicating Normal, United States
  34. Dr. Julia Rucklidge, clinical psychologist, New Zealand
  35. Bernie Sanders, senator, United States
  36. Tony Stephan, co-founder of Truehope, Canada
  37. Andy Vickery, trial lawyer, United States
  38. Robert Whitaker, founder of Mad in America, United States
  39. Kim Witczak, drug safety advocate, United States
  40. Terence Young, chair of Drug Safety Canada