Irving John Selikoff and the strange case of the missing medical degrees

Our plain-English summary of Irving John Selikoff and the strange case of the missing medical degrees, by P.W. Bartrip (Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 2003).

The study

• Author: P.W. Bartrip
• Journal: Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences
• Published: 2003;58(1):3-33
• Type of article: Historical article
• Cited by: 8 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Between the early 1960s and his death, Irving John Selikoff (1915-1992) was the dominant figure in the field of asbestos and health. He was particularly important in helping to establish a causal association between relatively low and spasmodic exposure to asbestos dust on the part of insulation workers and excess mortality rates. Through scientific and other activities, he played as large a part as anyone in destroying the American asbestos industry. This article traces Selikoff's medical education across three continents between 1936 and 1945. This education was relatively brief, patchy, and in some respects substandard. Selikoff never obtained the M.D. degree he repeatedly claimed he possessed. Questions are raised about how he attained such high professional recognition given his very modest educational attainments. Reflections are offered about whether asbestos regulation and litigation might have been different if Selikoff's evasions had come to light before now.

In plain English

This is a historical article, not a medical study of asbestos exposure. The author used university archives, biographical directories and court deposition transcripts to trace the medical education of Irving John Selikoff, a leading figure in asbestos and health research. Selikoff's Who's Who in America entry claimed an M.D. from "Anderson Coll. Medicine, U.Melbourne". The author found that no such institution has ever existed. The records showed that Selikoff earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Columbia University. He then studied at Anderson's College in Glasgow, which could not award degrees, toward the Scottish "triple qualification", a license to practice medicine. When the war kept him from returning to Scotland, he took thirty-two short courses at the University of Melbourne without being registered for a degree. He later obtained the triple qualification. He also received a Ph.D. in medicine from Middlesex University School of Medicine, which the author described as unaccredited. In the testimony the author reviewed, Selikoff never said that he lacked an M.D. The author concluded that, in terms of medical education and qualification, Selikoff "was a fraud". The author also noted that his principal scientific papers have never been disputed by serious scholars.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Historical and biographical study based on archival documents (not an epidemiological or clinical study)
• Who was studied: One individual, Irving John Selikoff, traced through records of Columbia University, Anderson's College (Glasgow), the University of Melbourne, Middlesex University School of Medicine, directory entries and deposition transcripts
• Exposure: Not applicable: the article examines a researcher's education and qualifications, not an asbestos exposure
• Main results:
  • Who's Who in America listed Selikoff's M.D. as from 'Anderson Coll. Medicine, U.Melbourne'. The author found that no such institution exists. The name combines Anderson's College in Glasgow with the University of Melbourne.
  • Selikoff did obtain a Bachelor of Science degree from Columbia University.
  • At Anderson's College, Glasgow, which had no degree-awarding powers, Selikoff studied for the Scottish 'triple qualification', a license to practice medicine, not for a medical degree.
  • At the University of Melbourne, Selikoff took thirty-two short courses so that he could sit the Scottish Conjoint Board's final examinations. He was not registered for a degree.
  • Selikoff never resumed his Melbourne studies and never received a degree there. He finally qualified through the Scottish Conjoint Board's triple qualification.
  • Selikoff received a Ph.D. in medicine from Middlesex University School of Medicine. The author described the school as unaccredited and of very poor quality.
  • The American Medical Directory coded Selikoff as having received an M.D. from Middlesex University Medical School. The author states that Selikoff received no M.D. degree from any university.
  • In the deposition testimony the author reviewed, Selikoff never stated that he did not hold an M.D. degree. He gave varying accounts of where he had studied, such as the 'Royal Colleges in Scotland'.
  • The author noted that Selikoff's principal scientific papers have not been disputed by serious scholars.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that, in terms of medical education and qualification, Selikoff was a fraud. The author also suggested he may in some respects have been a 'victim' of anti-Semitism and the war, and judged that the evidence did not nullify his reputation as a major figure in occupational medicine (a 'qualified negative').
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author acknowledges gaps in the available knowledge and says some points remain obscure.
  • Selikoff's undergraduate transcript from Columbia was not available, so his academic record there could not be assessed.
  • Requests to consult the Selikoff Papers held at Mt. Sinai Hospital received no response.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Insulator.

Related studies

• Corporate corruption of medical literature: asbestos studies concealed by W.R. Grace & Co — D. Egilman, W. Wallace, et al. (1998)
• Shooting the messenger: the vilification of Irving J. Selikoff — J. McCulloch, G. Tweedale (2007)
• Science is not sufficient: Irving J. Selikoff and the asbestos tragedy — J. McCulloch, G. Tweedale (2007)
• The long-lasting legacy of industrial carcinogens: the lesson of asbestos. Irving J. Selikoff Memorial Lecture, 1995 — C. Maltoni (1997)
• The art of perpetuating a public health hazard — M. Greenberg (2005)
• Variability in interpretation among B-readers in the U.S. Navy Asbestos Medical Surveillance Program — J.G. Muller, J.M. Lieske, et al. (2008)

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