Caulfield went to high school in Edmonton, Alberta.[4] He attended the University of Alberta, earning a B. Sc. in 1987 and a law degree in 1990. He completed a Masters in Law at Dalhousie University in 1993.[11] During this period he also performed in two punk rock and new age bands, The Citizens and Absolute 9.[5][2][12]
Academic career
In 1996, Caulfield became an assistant professor at the University of Alberta. After working several years as an associate professor, he became a full professor in 2004 and is currently teaching biotechnology. In 1993, he became Research Director of the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta, a position he currently occupies. In 2013, he was named a fellow of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.[10] He is a Health Senior Scholar at the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research and has worked on a variety of advisory committees involved in medical and scientific ethics, including one with the International Society for Stem Cell Research.[6]
Caulfield has referred to the amount of misinformation surrounding the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic as an "infodemic". He has received funding from the federal government's Rapid Research Funding Opportunity to investigate how misinformation about COVID-19 spreads and to look for ways to stop it.[16] He noted that this is the first time a global pandemic has spread in the time of social media, which allows for information to be shared quickly and often inaccurately. Some of the supposed cures of COVID-19 that Caulfield has debunked are drinking bleach, drinking silver, snorting cocaine, homeopathy, drinking cow urine, garlic soup and hydroxychloroquine.[16]
On April 8, 2020, Caulfield was appointed to the Royal Society of Canada Task Force to help support Canada's response to and recovery from COVID-19. The task force mandate is to give informed responses to the many challenges that may come to Canada as a result of the virus and will work with academies from around the world to identify societal challenges.[17]
In 2020 Tim Caulfield collaborated with his brother Sean Caulfield, also a University of Alberta professor, to use artistic images to share pro-science information in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.[19]
Health advice by celebrities
Caulfield developed an interest in the health advice given by celebrities and the significant impact that it has on public health, especially when it is based on pseudoscience. He uses social media platforms, interviews, his books and his television series to counter some health claims made by celebrities such as actress and entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow and alternative medicine advocate Deepak Chopra.[12][20][21][22]
His 2015 book Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything? focuses on the negative impact celebrity endorsement have on public health. Caulfield argues that the public should be wary of accepting health advice from entertainers and artists.[23][24][25][7][26] The book won the 2015 Science in Society General Book Award from the Canadian Science Writer's Association.[27]
"Scienceploitation" and stem cell tourism
Caulfield speaking about "scienceploitation" at CSICon 2018 in Las Vegas
Caulfield has advocated for medical professionals to not exaggerate potential benefits of new unproven treatments in fields that have only long-term potential. Stem cell treatments in particular is sometimes fraudulently hyped as a very expensive miracle cure for anything from autism, Lou Gehrig’s disease and spinal cord injury, to cerebral palsy, a practice Caulfield calls "scienceploitation".[28][29][30]
In addition to plain dishonesty, Caulfield argues that the media looking for human-interest stories often portray unsound treatments as effective and give hope to patients. Researchers face pressure to present their research as being more advanced than it actually is and to respond to commercialization imperatives.[28][31][32]
Caulfield points out that these practices have been used all the way back to the discovery of magnetism, and tend to appear whenever new scientific discoveries attract the interest of the public: "Now you see stem cell, genetic, and increasingly, microbiome research being exploited to sell a host of ridiculous products. My favorite example, however, has to be the use of “quantum physics.” Many alternative medicine practitioners seem to think that if they slap the word “quantum” on a product it sounds more science-y and more legitimate."[33]
Books and collections
Caulfield edited several reference works on research ethics. In the last decade, he also wrote books taking aim at pseudoscience. In his 2012 The Cure for Everything,[34][35] he tried to clarify the science behind sensationalized media reports about the effects of diet and fitness on health.[5][36]Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything? in 2015 [37] tackles celebrity endorsement of dubious treatments and their effect on public health, while The Vaccination Picture in 2017 examines myths propagated against vaccines.[38] His 2020 book Relax Dammit!: A User's Guide to the Age of Anxiety looks at how misinformation and science affect daily decisions.[39]
He is also editor or coeditor of the following publications:
Editor, with Maria Knoppers and T. Douglas Kinsella. Legal Rights and Human Genetic Material (1997).[40]
Editor, with Bryn Williams-Jones. The Commercialization of Genetic Research: Ethical, Legal, and Policy Issues (1999).[41]
Editor, with Barbara Von Tigerstrom (2002) || Health Care Reform & the Law in Canada: Meeting the Challenge(2002).[42]
Editor, with Sean Caulfield|| Imagining science: Art, Science and Social Change (2008).[43]
Editor, with Nola Ries and Tracey Bailey. Public Health Law and Policy in Canada, 2nd ed. (2008).[44]
Editor, with Sean Caulfield and Curtis Gillespie. Perceptions of Promise: Biotechnology, Society and Art (2011).[46]
Editor, with Nola Ries and Tracey Bailey. Public Health Law Policy in Canada (2013).[47]
Television
Caulfield is the host and main protagonist of the documentary series, A User's Guide to Cheating Death, presented in 60 countries,[48] including Canadian specialty channel Vision TV. The first six-episode season presents Caulfield subjecting himself to various treatments of doubtful efficacy. The episodes include conversations with people believing the treatments work for them and discussions with panels of experts.[49][50][51] The series was renewed for a second season,[52] and became available on Netflix in North America during the Fall of 2018.[53][33] His show was reviewed by Jonathan Jarry, saying, "Tim Caulfield is an excellent host for a show that shines a disinfecting light on medical pseudoscience. Unlike many skeptics in the public eye, he does not come across as antagonistic or condescending."[54]
"Full Potential: Genetic Testing and the Rise of Personalized Medicine"
October 2, 2017
"Losing It: Extreme Dieting"
October 9, 2017
"Au Natural: Turning Our Back to Modern Medicine"
October 16, 2017
"Scienceploitation"
October 23, 2017
Season 2
"I'll Sleep When I'm Dead"
October 15, 2018
"Vitamins and Supplements"
October 22, 2018
"Sex and Relationships"
October 29, 2018
"Germs"
November 5, 2018
"Body Hacking"
November 12, 2018
"Spiritual Science"
November 19, 2018
In 2024, Caulfield tackled misinformation in the "manosphere" in his documentary "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" where he exposed the extremes that some men are going to in order to be seen as masculine.[56][57]
He suffers from motion sickness, which is one of the reasons he abandoned a fledgling career as a rock musician.[64] He is "a bit of a germophobe. I hate sharing food. I'm not good with handshakes or hugs."[66]
^ abCaulfield, Timothy (September 12, 2011). "Blinded by Science". The Walrus. Archived from the original on November 21, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
^Caulfield, Timothy (December 1, 2012). "Commercialization creep". Policy Options. Archived from the original on November 21, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
^Caulfield, Timothy (2015). Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?: When Celebrity Culture and Science Clash. Toronto: Viking. ISBN978-06700-67589.
^Caulfield, Timothy (2017). The vaccination picture. Viking. ISBN978-0735234994.
^Caulfield, Sean; Caulfield, Timothy (2008). Imagining Science: Art, Science, and Social Change. Calgary, Alberta: The University of Alberta Press. ISBN978-0-88864-508-1.
^Ries, Nola; Bailey, Tracey; Caulfield, Timothy (2008). Public Health Law & Policy in Canada, 2nd Edition. Markham, Ontario: LexisNexis Canada. ISBN978-0433458173.
^Caulfield, Sean; Gillespie, Curtis; Caulfield, Timothy (2011). Perceptions of Promise: Biotechnology, Society and Art. Department of Art and Design, University of Alberta and University of Washington Press. ISBN978-0969989844.
^Ries, Nola; Bailey, Tracey; Caulfield, Timothy (2013). Public Health Law & Policy in Canada, 3rd Edition. LexisNexis Canada. ISBN9780433470397.
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