tim caulfield teaching

Teaching Critical Thinking as a Public Health Initiative

Tim Caulfield—a Law Professor at the University of Alberta and the author of Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?—wants to help us get better at fighting misinformation about health.

This past Monday, Caulfield came to the Petrie-Flom Center’s Health Policy Workshop and spoke to an audience of Harvard Law students, affiliates from throughout Harvard University, and academics and community members from the Boston area.

During his fascinating and dynamic presentation, Caulfield covered a lot of ground. He discussed political polarization on Twitter, the profit-maximizing machinations (or self-delusion) of celebrities pedaling bunk health products, and evidence that false claims spread faster than true ones. All that may leave one feeling pessimistic and Caulfield would likely sympathize with your pessimism. Yet, the presentation also contained reasons to have hope.

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