Nancy Olivieri

In 1998 Nancy Olivieri, a medical researcher at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto, made headlines after she published a study critical of a drug for thalassemia, a genetic blood disorder. Olivieri published her results despite the objections of the pharmaceutical company that funded part of her research. The stand provoked controversy between scientists and researchers who opposed or supported the increasing corporatization of research and medical care.

Olivieri is presently a professor of pediatrics and medicine at the University of Toronto and is the head of the Hemoglobinopathy Program. She is responsible for the largest program of patients with thalassemia in North America and for one of the largest of patients with sickle cell disease. She is also founding member of Doctors for Research Integrity, an organization dedicated to scientific integrity and the protection of patients in clinical trials.