Most of the 270 who signed anti-Joe Rogan letter action not doctors

The majority of the 270 signatories to an open letter to Spotify accusing Joe Rogan of pushing 'anti-vax misinformation' on his podcast - with one branding him a 'menace to public health' - are not medical doctors.

Hundreds of doctors and scientists signed the letter, published January 10, that called on the streaming giant to adopt a misinformation policy after the comedian hosted the controversial Dr Robert Malone last month.

Only 87 of the signatories are medical doctors. Malone himself has an MD from Northwestern University.

Some of the other medical professions represented include: Dr. Christine Garvey, a Western New York-based veterinarian; Dr. Colleen Trecartin-Frost, a dentist from New Jersey; Autumn Schuster, a social worker at the University of California at Irvine;  Korinne Bricker, a 'COVID-19 laboratory supervisor', as well as a host of teachers,  engineers and psychologists.

A few of the people signing the letter also work on podcasts like Rogan's.

Bridget Scallen, an MS, credits herself as the editor of the Unbiased Science podcast, which calls itself 'devoted to objective, critical appraisal of available evidence on science and health-related topics relevant to listeners’ daily lives' and says it aims to 'dispel misinformation and misconceptions across an array of science and public health topics' like vaccines.

April English, an MPH and signee, is a contributor to Unbiased Science like Scallen.

Shoshana Ungerleider, MD, is herself also in podcasting; she hosts the TED Health Podcast from the company that produces TED Talks.

Nini Munoz is senior electrical design engineer at Garmin International, a company that delivers 'innovative GPS technology across diverse markets, including aviation, marine, fitness, outdoor recreation, tracking and mobile apps' according to its website.

Alie Ward, host of the Ologies podcast which describes itself as a 'comedic science' program, has no medical degree but is a co-founder of the science communication collective Nerd Brigade. Ward also works as a consulting producer for Ada Twist, Scientist, a Netflix cartoon executive produced by Michelle Obama.

Read the full letter sent to Spotify - accusing Joe Rogan's episode with Dr Robert Malone of 'damaging public trust in scientific research'  An Open Letter to Spotify: A call from the global scientific and medical communities to implement a misinformation policy:The episode has been criticized for promoting baseless conspiracy theories and the JRE has a concerning history of broadcasting misinformation, particularly regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. By allowing the propagation of false and societally harmful assertions, Spotify is enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals. JRE #1757 is not the only transgression to occur on the Spotify platform, but a relevant example of the platform’s failure to mitigate the damage it is causing. We are a coalition of scientists, medical professionals, professors, and science communicators spanning a wide range of fields such as microbiology, immunology, epidemiology, and neuroscience and we are calling on Spotify to take action against the mass-misinformation events which continue to occur on its platform. With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE is the world’s largest podcast and has tremendous influence. Though Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, the company presently has no misinformation policy.Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Joe Rogan has repeatedly spread misleading and false claims on his podcast, provoking distrust in science and medicine. He has discouraged vaccination in young people and children, incorrectly claimed that mRNA vaccines are “gene therapy,” promoted off-label use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 (contrary to FDA warnings), and spread a number of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories. In episode #1757, Rogan hosted Dr. Robert Malone, who was suspended from Twitter for spreading misinformation about COVID-19. Dr. Malone used the JRE platform to further promote numerous baseless claims, including several falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines and an unfounded theory that societal leaders have “hypnotized” the public. Many of these statements have already been discredited. Notably, Dr. Malone is one of two recent JRE guests who has compared pandemic policies to the Holocaust. These actions are not only objectionable and offensive, but also medically and culturally dangerous.The average age of JRE listeners is 24 years old and according to data from Washington State, unvaccinated 12-34 year olds are 12 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID than those who are fully vaccinated. Dr. Malone’s interview has reached many tens of millions of listeners vulnerable to predatory medical misinformation. Mass-misinformation events of this scale have extraordinarily dangerous ramifications. As scientists, we face backlash and resistance as the public grows to distrust our research and expertise. As educators and science communicators, we are tasked with repairing the public’s damaged understanding of science and medicine. As physicians, we bear the arduous weight of a pandemic that has stretched our medical systems to their limits and only stands to be exacerbated by the anti-vaccination sentiment woven into this and other episodes of Rogan’s podcast.This is not only a scientific or medical concern; it is a sociological issue of devastating proportions and Spotify is responsible for allowing this activity to thrive on its platform. We, the undersigned doctors, nurses, scientists, and educators thus call on Spotify to immediately establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform.

Some of the other members of the medical academic field featured include physicians' assistants, a biochemist, nearly 100 Ph. Ds and Ph.D candidates, over a dozen nurses, medical students and public health advisors.

One such medical student, Forrest Valkai, also describes himself as a 'renegade science teacher' who has a podcast, YouTube channel, TikTok account, Patreon and merchandise store.

The nearly 100 Ph. Ds and Ph.D candidates largely do not practice medicine and many are professors.

Spotify has yet to publicly address the letter or the controversial episode of Rogan's hit podcast.

During a three-hour and six-minute interview on the now-viral episode #1757 of The Joe Rogan Experience, Malone compared the US to Nazi Germany and said today's society was suffering from a 'mass formation psychosis' over the use o... (Read more)

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