“Data and Technology Keys to Precision Medicine and 21st Century Cures “
Keith Yamamoto, PhD
Vice Chancellor for Research
University of California, San Francisco
Dear Dr. Yamamoto,
We write as members of the Board of the UCSF Faculty Association about the seminar co-hosted by UCSF and the Manhattan Institute on March 27th, Data and Technology: Keys to Precision Medicine and 21st Century Cures for which your office sent an email invitation. We are concerned about the Manhattan Institute’s track record with respect to scientific issues.
The Manhattan Institute has a regrettably long history, well documented in the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library archives housed at the UCSF Library, of subverting scientific efforts to research the adverse health impacts of tobacco and climate change. We do not oppose UCSF’s involvement with them in planning a conference because of their conservative bent. Instead, we do so because we do not believe that they adhere to the principles of academic freedom and free exchange of ideas based on evidence that is central to scientific discourse.
Indeed as the track record documented in the Legacy archives indicates, the Manhattan Institute has a record of subverting scientific discourse. In light of this, co-sponsorship by UCSF may have the effect of providing legitimacy to some of the anti-scientific positions they support even though the topic of the March 27th seminar may seem apolitical. It is especially troubling that the RSVPs go to the Manhattan Institute rather than to UCSF itself. It is also troubling that this event would be held on the day set aside to honor Cesar Chavez and on which UCSF will be officially closed.
We would urge you to drop UCSF co-sponsorship so as not to provide the UCSF imprimatur to an organization with a history of attempts to subvert honest and open scientific inquiry on important risk factors for poor health such as smoking, the contemporary diet, and climate change. If it would be helpful for you to see the history of the Manhattan Institute regarding the science concerning tobacco, we would be glad to forward URLS for those documents to you.
The Board of the UCSF Faculty Association