Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News
  • Published:

Hate-mail author trapped by DNA

Nature Medicine volume 6, page 364 (2000)Cite this article

Gideon Koren, a prominent Canadian pediatrician and researcher at the Hospital for Sick Children (HSC) and the University of Toronto, faces full dismissal from both positions after DNA evidence revealed him to be the author of hate mail sent to hematologist Nancy Olivieri and colleagues who have supported her during a protracted battle with the Canadian drug company Apotex. A number of allegations regarding Koren's scientific conduct are under investigation by a private disciplinary panel consisting of senior representatives from both institutions. Hospital spokesperson Cyndy deGiusti told Nature Medicine that results of the inquiry into Koren's behavior are “expected any day.”

Unfortunately for the HSC, this is the latest twist in an unsettling series of events that began when Koren and Olivieri, hired in 1993 by Apotex to conduct clinical trials on the effectiveness of the oral iron chelator deferiprone in thalassemia, parted ways over Olivieri's New England Journal of Medicine publication reporting that the drug is neither effective nor safe (Nature Med. 4, 1095; 1998 and Nature Med. 5, 7, 1223; 1999). The ensuing battle between Apotex and Olivieri left a growing divide between the hospital's administration and several of its faculty, including Koren and a small group of scientists who expressed support for Olivieri.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Washington D.C.

    Laura Bonetta

Authors
  1. Laura Bonetta
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bonetta, L. Hate-mail author trapped by DNA. Nat Med 6, 364 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/74596

Download citation

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/74596

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing