Podcast: TWiV Special: Call me David Tuller

[Andy]

David Tuller returns to talk about his efforts of the past year to expose the methodological and ethical problems with the PACE and Lightning trials for therapy of ME/CFS.

http://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-special-call-me-david-tuller/

 

[James Morris-Lent]

Great listen. Thanks, @dave30th

 

[Sly Saint]

Call me David Tuller

well at least it's not Call me Dave........

(for non UK, phrase used by former PM David Cameron when he was trying to show he was a 'man of the people', also the title of his unauthorised biography.)

 

[Forbin]

From the Guardian article:

It’s a harsh environment, fraught with lawsuits, that has bred a tough kind of activist. One of these is a man called David Tuller, a former HIV campaigner, who has become something of a hero to the ME/CFS community in the UK. https://www.theguardian.com/society...-encephalomyelitis-chronic-fatigue-pace-trial

From David's repsonse on Virology Blog:

As the story segues to my involvement, Anthony refers to me as “a man called David Tuller”–as if there might be some question as to whether David Tuller is my actual name or only the name that I allow people to call me. http://www.virology.ws/2019/08/13/trial-by-error-an-ill-informed-article-in-the-guardian/

I think David is being too generous here. Most people would probably take a construction like "a man called David Tuller" as a way of implying that David has no credentials (other than being a "tough kind of activist" and "former HIV campaigner").

An author less inclined to minimize might have added some additional facts to color their discourse (unless the brevity was imposed by an editor).

For example:

It’s a harsh environment, fraught with lawsuits, that has bred a tough kind of activist. One of these is Dr. David Tuller (DrPH), a senior fellow in public health and journalism at UC Berkeley’s Center for Global Public Health. A reporter and editor for ten years at The San Francisco Chronicle, Tuller has also served as health editor at Salon.com and has written regularly about public health and medical issues for The New York Times, the policy journal Health Affairs, and many other publications.* Mr. Tuller has become something of a hero to ME/CFS community in the UK.

[*Taken from David's online bio at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. https://journalism.berkeley.edu/person/david_tuller/ ]

 

[Sean]

Good discussion.

Once again, much thanks to Prof. Racaniello for his solid support for @dave30th and his work.