The Researcher Brown University Doesn’t Want You to Know About
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Brown University doctors Ashish Jha and Megan Ranney have been two of the biggest talking heads on national media during the pandemic.
There is another affiliated physician and researcher that Brown doesn't want you to know about however.
In fact, Andrew Bostom, MD, MS, lists himself as an associate professor of family medicine (research) at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBut while Jha, the Dean of the School of Public Health at Brown, and Ranney, the Warren Alpert Foundation Professor of Emergency Medicine, have been strong supporters of the CDC’s recommendation that K-12 students wear masks in schools, Bostom — an epidemiologist — has been opposed to masking requirements for students, and testified in the lawsuit pending in Rhode Island filed by plaintiffs who want to see the mandate lifted.
“[Bostom] has no affiliation currently,” said Brown University spokesperson Brian Clark, when asked about Bostom's university ties. “His prior affiliation was as an associate professor of family medicine.”
“That’s untrue — that’s patently false,” said Bostom on Monday, of Brown saying he has no affiliation. “It’s ludicrous. I work still at the Brown Center for Primary Care and Prevention under Dr. Charles Eaton.”
Bostom spoke with GoLocal about his current research on SARS-CoV-2, and what he said they have found as it pertains to “major structural flaws” in the state, which focuses on the number of times COVID tests are run — in most instances, through as many as 40 cycles, which Bostom says when you get too high a cycle threshold, “you can’t culture out live virus.”
But it’s Bostom’s research and remarks — including co-authoring an article this summer entitled, “Why Forcing Unvaccinated Students To Wear Cloth Masks Is Anti-Science,” that has distanced himself from the positions of his colleagues — and the university.
Masking Requirements and CDC Research — and Criticism
Brown’s Jha, in an appearance on Good Morning America in August, discussed a ‘five-point” strategy for getting kids back to school safely.
“Dr. Jha says masks help. He adds higher quality masks, such as the KF94, should be considered in high transmission areas, saying they're cheap and widely available,” reported ABC 7 following Jha's appearance on Good Morning America.
When the CDC released its guidance on schools this summer, Ranney Tweeted, “1) Yes schools should be open 2) Yes, unvaccinated kids should mask indoors, esp. with the new delta variant 3) Yes, anyone who can be vaccinated, should be 4) Yes, #Covid19 can be dangerous to kids.”
The CDC continues to advise that masks be worn by K-12 students.
Bostom, on the other hand, was tapped as an expert witness by plaintiffs, comprised of sixteen families, in the case of Southwell et. al. vs. McKee in the lawsuit seeking to overturn the Rhode Island school mask mandate.
In his testimony, Bostom argued that the low pediatric hospitalization rates and no reported pediatric deaths from COVID were among the primary reasons children shouldn’t be required to mask.
He also pointed to pre-COVID trials that showed that results for community masking for prevention of respiratory viral infections were negative; he also cited the medical and psychological problems created by masks — including acne.
Bostom also referenced thirteen randomized, controlled trials for community masking for the prevention of respiratory viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2 -- all the way through the pandemic -- up until August 2021, that were uniformly negative.
As of September, three children with COVID had died in Rhode Island, and the state had the third-highest COVID infection rate for kids in the U.S.
GoLocal asked Brown, who continually cites the CDC mask guidance for policy on campus, for comment on Bostom’s position.
“[The Brown Center for Primary Care and Prevention] is a hospital-based program in which Brown collaborates. Some physicians are affiliated with Brown — others are not,” said Clark. “Dr. Bostom is not employed at Brown and does not have a current faculty appointment.”
Editor's Note: Brown had previously identified the Center for Primary Care and Prevention as a Miriam Hospital program. They corrected it to say it was a Memorial Hospital-based program, before it closed.
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