Alumni | Virtual
Timely Topics: Addressing Myths About Vaccines and Autism
12–1 p.m.
The claim that vaccines cause autism has been consistently refuted. Yet the fear persists, shaping families’ decisions and driving down vaccination rates.
In this webinar, psychiatrist and epidemiologist Eric Fombonne, M.D., examines the myth of the vaccine-autism connection and what the research found when it was put to the test.
We’ll cover:
- The two hypotheses behind the alleged link between child immunizations and autism
- How well-designed, well-executed studies have consistently failed to support these claims
- Why vaccine hesitancy and misinformation pose increasingly serious threats to public health
About the presenter:
Eric Fombonne, M.D., trained in child and adolescent psychiatry in France. He has held academic appointments at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research in France, the Institute of Psychiatry and Maudsley Hospital at King’s College London and McGill University in Canada. In September 2012, he joined the Department of Psychiatry at OHSU, where he is now professor emeritus. He has extensive clinical experience working with children with autism and their families across the lifespan and directing clinical services for teenagers with depression. His research on neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders includes clinical and longitudinal studies, international population-based epidemiological studies, and studies of risk factors, with a focus on vaccine exposure, clinical trials and genetic studies. Fombonne has published more than 400 articles in peer-reviewed journals and 55 chapters in books. He is a past associate editor of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders and currently serves as joint editor of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and on the editorial board of several other autism and child psychiatry journals.
