The David Healy Affair

There has been international media coverage of the events surrounding the University of Toronto's withdrawal of a formal job offer to the psychiatrist David Healy. Interest has been aroused because of the suggestion that the job withdrawal was a consequence of the clash of interest between academic freedom and the commercial interests of pharmaceutical companies. Indeed, these specific events have raised much more general concerns about the possible influence of large corporations on intellectual debate in Western democracies.

In view of the potential importance of this affair, this web site makes available some of the primary source documentation :- Dr Healy's lecture in Toronto which immediately preceded the withdrawal of the job offer, transcripts of e-mail correspondence following the talk, and the transcript of a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary on the topic.

These documents were circulated to Dr Bruce Charlton by Dr David Healy. They are already in the public domain, but most have not previously been conveniently or freely accessible



e-mail
dave@bltc.com


Bruce Charlton
October 2001