Stephen Barrett, M.D., a retired psychiatrist who resides in Allentown, Pennsylvania, has achieved national renown as an author, editor, and consumer advocate. In addition to heading Quackwatch, he is vice-president and of the National Council Against Health Fraud, a scientific advisor to the American Council on Science and Health, and a Fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). In 1984, he received an FDA Commissioner's Special Citation Award for Public Service in fighting nutrition quackery. In 1986, he was awarded honorary membership in the American Dietetic Association. From 1987 through 1989, he taught health education at The Pennsylvania State University. He is listed in Marquis Who's Who in America and received the 2001 Distinguished Service to Health Education Award from the American Association for Health Education.
An expert in medical communications, Dr. Barrett operates six Web sites; edits Consumer Health Digest (a weekly electronic newsletter); writes a weekly column for Canoe.ca, is medical editor of Prometheus Books; and is a peer-review panelist for several top medical journals. His 49 books include The Health Robbers: A Close Look at Quackery in America and six editions of the college textbook Consumer Health: A Guide to Intelligent Decisions. One book he edited, Vitamins and Minerals: Help or Harm?, by Charles Marshall, Ph.D., won the American Medical Writers Association award for best book of 1983 for the general public and became a special publication of Consumer Reports Books. His other classics include Dubious Cancer Treatment, published by the Florida Division of the American Cancer Society; Health Schemes, Scams, and Frauds, published by Consumer Reports Books; The Vitamin Pushers: How the "Health Food" Industry Is Selling America a Bill of Goods, published by Prometheus Books; and Reader's Guide to "Alternative" Health Methods, published by the American Medical Association.
Robert S. Baratz, MD, PhD, DDS, is an internist, emergency physician, dentist, and researcher who resides in Newton, Massachusetts. The founder of four companies, he has also served as medical director for two others in the medical device and pharmaceutical industry. He has been involved with issues regarding the safety of drugs and biomaterials since 1980. He has served on the medical and dental faculties of Northwestern, Boston, and Tufts Universities. His broad knowledge of interactions of materials and the body has been sought by numerous licensing boards, regulatory agencies, universities, government agencies, insurance companies, and professional associations. He is also considered an expert at medical database applications and analyses.
Dr. Baratz has worked for more than twenty years in dental and medical practice for private, public, and government entities, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, The Daughters of Charity, and Harvard Community Health Plan. Currently is president and medical director of South Shore Health Center in Braintree, Massachusetts; president of the National Council Against Health Fraud; a member of the board of scientific advisors of the American Council on Science and Health; president of International Medical Consultation Services, Inc. of Newton, Massachusetts; and medical director of Skin Systems, Inc. of Peabody, Massachusetts. In 1992, the American Dental Association gave him a Presidential Citation for his work in advancing oral public health. In 1993, he received the City of Newton's first Good Neighbor Award. He is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World, and Who's Who in Science and Engineering.