The Gilbert S. Omenn Page

A history of health fascism

Nov. 2, 1998 AAMC [Association of American Medical Colleges] Robert G. Petersdorf Lecture: Caring for the Community, by Gilbert S. Omenn, former deputy science advisor to President Carter. History of health fascist ideology, Flexner 1910; hatred of fee-for-service, and delusion that third party payment encourages the health fascists "to think of the patient as a whole person" when they think of people as pawns and subjects, not free consumers; "There is an organized scheme nationally for stimulating healthcare professionals and the larger community to improve the health of Americans. It began in 1979 with Surgeon General Julius Richmond and has been sustained through four presidential administrations. The current version is Healthy People 2000; proposals for Healthy People 2010 are being presented in hearings around the country..." Their sacred lies of McGinnis & Foege; Roz Lasker and the Public Health & Medicine collaboration; RWJF-Kellogg "Turning Point;" media manipulation.

Also nice details about cronyism: "Dr. Petersdorf was an imposing figure as the prematurely white-haired young successor to Robert Williams as chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington when I came to Seattle as Fellow in Medical Genetics in 1969. He plucked me from the very junior ranks to organize the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program proposal, under his guidance as PI... In 1977, when Dr. Frank Press offered me a position as deputy science advisor to President Carter, I asked the White House operator to find Dr. Petersdorf, who was in Dallas getting ready for his installation as president of the American College of Physicians. I sought his advice, and assured him that I would stay to do my month of attending 6 weeks hence. He cut me off, told me he knew all about the recruitment, and said he would personally arrange a substitute or do the month's attending for me himself! There was no point in asking again whether he thought I should go off to DC." Frank Press is a principal of the Lasker Foundation-associated Washington Advisory Group. (AAMC 1998 Robert G. Petersdorf Lecture, University of Michigan. Link died http://www.med.umich.edu/medschool/faculty/aamc.lecture.html.)

Gilbert Omenn made a presentation, "Observations on the Smoking Problem in the Peoples' Republic of China," at the 1980 Institute of Medicine Invitational Conference on Smoking and Behavior, "Health and Behavior: A Research Agenda Interim Report No. 1, Smoking and Behavior." Surgeon General Julius Richmond also made a presentation. IOM president David A. Hamburg also participated, and his wife Beatrix was on the advisory panel.

Research, innovation, and university-industry linkages. Prager DJ, Omenn GS. Science 1980 Jan 25;207(4429):379-384. (Abstract) "Carter Administration actions to enhance basic research and stimulate industrial innovation have focused attention on the importance of formal university-industry cooperative relationships in science and engineering. We have examined the status of, and potential for, university-industry research consortia and research partnerships and the current and prospective roles of the federal government in stimulating such relationships."

Omenn was a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Cause and Prevention in 1982. Peter Magee of the American Health Foundation was the Chairman. Other members of the Board included longtime NCI honcho William Haenszel, and Pelayo Correa, who co-authored a 1983 passive smoking study (and 39 other studies, all chemical carcinogen-oriented) with Haenszel. These included numerous diet and gastric cancer studies at a time when those investigating Helicobacter pylori couldn't get funding. (SEER Ceiling Lifted; Cost Committee Finds Deficiencies, Asks Changes. The Cancer Letter 1982 Oct. 22;8(41).)

Advisory Committee to the CDC Director, 1992

Gilbert S. Omenn, Steven A. Schroeder of RWJF, Harold P. Freeman (AHF Trustee 1990-93), and John R. Seffrin of the American Cancer Society were advisors to CDC Director William L. Roper, who is now a trustee of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The Milbank Memorial Fund

1994, "Leadership in Public Health," papers by William Foege, William Roper, and Molly Coye (1991-93 Director of the California Dept. of Health Services, founder of the Health Technology Center, sponsored by the RWJF-funded Institute for the Future). Pariticipants included Lawrence Altman, National Science Writer for the New York Times; Edward Baker and Martha Katz of the CDC; Patricia Buffler of UC Berkeley, an author of ETS studies; Gilbert Omenn; Martin Wasserman; and numerous others.

Angen Inc.

Omenn has been a director of Amgen Inc. since 1987. He was also a director of Immune Response Corporation and Rohm & Haas Company, 1994 director bio. "Dr. Gilbert S. Omenn has been Professor of Internal Medicine, Human Genetics and Public Health at the University of Michigan since 1997, prior to which he was the Chief Executive Officer of the University of Michigan Health System and a professor of medicine at and Dean of the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of Washington. Dr. Omenn was a director of Rohm & Haas Co., a manufacturer or specialty chemicals, from 1987 until March 2009, where he served on the Audit, Nominating and Sustainability Committees and of OccuLogix, Inc., an in-vitro diagnostic company, from 2005 until 2008, serving on its Finance and Compensation Committees. Dr. Omenn has been a member of the scientific advisory board of Pro-Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, since July 2009 and a member of the board of directors and scientific advisory board of Armune BioSciences, a non-public early-stage diagnostic company, since 2008. He has been an advisor to Motorola Inc., an electronics and equipment company, and a member of the Motorola science advisors since 1998," 2010 Amgen director bio.

COSEPUP

Omenn was a member of the National Academies of Science Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy from 1983 to 1988, and was chairman from 1985 to 1988. Alexander H. Flax of the Lasker Foundation-associated Washington Advisory Group was also a COSEPUP member from 1984 to 1996. (COSEPUP Membership Since 1962, NAS Link died http://www4.nationalacademies.org/pd/cosepup.nsf/web/membership_since_1962?OpenDocument.) In 2008, he headed a committee which prepared the report, Evaluating Research Efficiency in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, for the U.S. Congress, briefing on Jan. 30, 2008. (For .Congress. NAS.)

RWJF-Kellogg "Turning Point"

Gilbert Omenn is the program director of the $24.25 million Robert Wood Johnson and WK Kellogg Foundation-funded "Turning Point - Collaborating for a New Century in Public Health" program. The lie that supposedly "52%" of deaths are due to "personal risk behaviors" makes it clear that the primary agenda is health fascism. The program is intended to violate the citizens of 15 to 20 states.

Media event on the $24.25 million RWJF-W.K. Kellogg Foundation collaboration, "Turning Point: Collaboration for a New Century in Public Health." Roz D. Lasker was one of the participants.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Omenn was on the Scientific Advisory Board of the New York Academy of Medicine's Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies (CUES), which was set up in 1995-96 with $250,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Another Scientific Advisory Board member is Leon Gordis of the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, the author of the fraudulent Reference Manual on Federal Evidence of the Federal Justice Center, 1st and 2nd editions, which are intended to instruct the US Government's judicial branch employees in the wake of the Daubert decision. (Link died http://www.rwjf.org/health/024169s.htm.)

Omenn was on the Partnership for Prevention's Medicare Advisory Committee for the RWJF-funded project, Advancing the Debate on Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Policy under Medicare, $387,153 from July 2001 to December 2003. Key recommendations included "Use implementation of the new legislation as an opportunity to build stronger collaboration and coordination on health promotion and disease prevention for older adults across U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agencies;" and "Direct the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to develop a Medicare benefit for the tobacco cessation counseling and drug treatments that the U.S. Public Health Service guidelines have identified as effective." (Cost Analysis Shows the Benefits of Disease Prevention Efforts Under Medicare. RWJF, Jan. 2005.) They produced an article, The camel's nose is under the tent: opportunities for prevention associated with the 2003 Medicare Act. AB Coffield, GS Omenn, JE Fielding, PV Long, DB Kamerow. Am J Prev Med 2004 May;26(4):375-376, no abstract.

"With a total of $50 million, RWJF and Kellogg collaborated to create the largest privately funded effort to strengthen the public health system in the nation's history. RWJF contributed $33 million (including grants outside its authorization for the program), and Kellogg contributed $17 million to Turning Point. Bobbie Berkowitz, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., alumni endowed professor of nursing and director of the Center for the Advancement of Health Disparities Research at the University of Washington School of Nursing, served as director of the RWJF national program office during most of Turning Point's existence. Gilbert S. Omenn, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, was director for part of the first year, while Berkowitz was deputy director. The other deputy directors were Jan Dahl, R.N., M.A., (1998–2001) and Betty Bekemeier, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.N., assistant professor in the School of Nursing (2001–2006). Vincent Lafronza, Ed.D., M.S., headed up Kellogg's national program office." (Turning Point: Collaborating for a New Century in Public Health. Publications and research, RWJF, May 2008.)

Prevention and the reforming US health care system: changing roles and responsibilities for public health. RL Gordon, EL Baker, WL Roper, GS Omenn. Annu Rev Public Health 1996;17:489-509.

Omenn was a member of the advisory committee for a report, Studying the Feasibility of Developing Health Impact Statements, $605,572 March 2001 to December 2003, at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Public Health worked under a subcontract from the Partnership for Prevention. (Health Impact Statements Could Benefit Public Policy Decision-Making Process. Publications and research, RWJF, Oct. 2008.)

International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI)

Omenn has also been a member of the board of directors of the Health and Environmental Science Institute (HESI) of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) since 1989. (Omenn CV, accessed 3/3/08.) Carol J. Henry, co-author of the Microbiological Associates mouse inhalation studies, was the executive director of the International Life Sciences Institute between 1989 and 1992.

Rohm and Haas

Gilbert Omenn has been a director of this PC-speaking paint and chemical firm since 1987. In 1989, Rohm & Haas acquired Morton International, and James A. Henderson of Cummins Engines and director of Ryerson Tull (into which Inland Steel was merged) has been a director since then. Other directors from the "Illinois Interlock" have shown up in recent years, such as James R. Cantalupo of McDonald's Corporation, and director of Illinois Tool Works and Sears Roebuck; and Richard L. Keyser of WW Grainger.

Consortium for Risk Ealuation with Stakeholder Participation (CRESP)

CRESP was co-founded by Drs. Bernard D. Goldstein, John A. Moore, Gilbert Omenn, Charles W. Powers, and Arthur C. Upton in 1995. Powers is the former Vice President of Government Affairs at Cummins Engine Co. and was a founding member of the Health Effects Institute. Two former members of the Science Advisory Board of the EPA ETS report have been there: Morton Lippmann is on the Peer Review Committee, and Paul Lioy is a Principal Investigator. (Mission. and: The CRESP Investigator and Staff Directory (2000). Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Evaluation, accessed 6/29/10.)

Carol J. Henry of the International Life Sciences Institute (of which Omenn was a director) wished John A. Moore "good luck" in his new position, at the Institute for Evaluating Health Risks. (Henry to Moore, Aug. 1, 1989.)

[The Institute for Evaluating Health Risks was set up in the offices of Cooley Godward in January 1989 to contract with the California Department of Health Services for risk assessments, with Michael Tarynor of Cooley Godward as its Acting Secretary. Charles W. Powers of the Health Effects Institute was named Acting Executive Director, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. The seven board members included William F. Ballhaus, former president of Beckman Instruments; UC-Davis Chancellor Theodore L. Huller; Stanford University President Donald Kennedy; Melvin Lane, Chairman of Sunset Publications; Hewlett-Packard Chairman David Packard; and UC-Riverside Chancellor Rosemary Schraer. (What Is IEHR? From the offices of Cooley Godward Castro Huddleston & Tatum, Jan. 1989.)]

The University of Michigan

The Office of the Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs was created in 1996 by the University of Michigan Board of Regents, and Gilbert S. Omenn was enthroned in it until 2002. He was the highest paid U-Mich official in 1998-99 at $515,000. ('U' faculty gets highest '98-'99 salary increase, by Jaimie Winkler. The Michigan Daily 1999 Jan. 22. Link died http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/1999/jan/01-22-99/news/news2.html) He remains as Professor of Internal Medicine, Human Genetics, and Public Health, and Principle Investigator of the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor Proteomics Alliance for Cancer research program and leader of the international Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) Human Plasma Proteome Project.

"On 11/6/00, news reports said that executives of several Ann Arbor area biotechnology firms were protesting what they viewed as a power play by four of the universities in the state to grab most of the money set aside from the tobacco settlement for biotechnology devlopment and research..." (Ann Arbor News, Nov, 6, 2000.) The steering committee directing the money "has enlisted the help of the Washington Advisory Group to conduct an analysis of Michigan's life sciences research infrastructure and to advise on investment initiatives" [sic - translation: "cronyism" -cast]. (1 Billion in Tobacco Funds Targeted for a Life Sciences Corridor; Michigan Leads the Nation in Using Settlement Funds for Health Research and Job Creation. Michigan Economic Development Corporation and www.tcsg.org. PR Newswire 2000 March 23.) Lasker Foundation director and Research!America emeritus board member Purnell Choppin is a member of the Washington Advisory Group. Members with U-Mich connections: Bruce R. Guile got his Master of Public Policy at the University of Michigan in 1979; Frank H.T. Rhodes is a former Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Michigan; James Wyngaarden is a former director of the National Institutes of Health, and an emeritus board member of Research!America, who got his MD at the University of Michigan Medical School in 1948; and Frank Press is Gilbert Omenn's old pal.

Gilbert Omenn made the 2002 edition of Genetic Engineering News' 100 Molecular Millionaires with $18,977,709. Research!America director J. Morton Davis' son-in-law Lindsay A. Rosenwald was number one with $617,421,671. Several directors of ImClone, a company under investigation for misleading investors and insider trading, made the list as well: Samuel D. Waksal, $122,943,676; Harlan W. Waksal, $98,714,317, and John Mendelsohn, $12,356,531. Mendelsohn is Charles A. LeMaistre's successor as President of the MD Anderson Cancer Center, and a former director of Enron. (Link died http://www.genengnews.com/millions02.asp.)

The Lasker Trust's Funding First

Omenn is a member of the Lasker Trust's Funding First "Leadership Team," along with Jordan J. Cohen, President of the AAMC.

Partnership for Prevention

Roper was Chairman of the Board of Directors in 2002; he and Martin P. Wasserman were fellow directors; John R. Seffrin of the American Cancer Society was Treasurer. (Board of Directors, Partnership for Prevention, 2002. Link died http://www.prevent.org/boardofdirectors.htm.) Omenn is currently a member of the Council of Advisors, 2010.

His goal is to "Increase Utilization of Preventive Services in Medicare and Medicaid," including "3.Create an incentive for states to cover tobacco use screening and treatment in their Medicaid programs."

National Coalition on Health Care

Omenn was a supporter of the National Coalition on Health Care. The NCHC is an umbrella group that breaks the mold of K Street lobbyists by being located on G Street instead. Former Rep. Paul G. Rogers was co-chair with the former governor of Iowa. Members of the board of directors included Rogers; Frank Carlucci of the Carlyle Group, also on the board of the Rand Corporation; and William Novelli, chairman of the board and former president of the ACS & RWJF-funded Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, who is now Executive Director and President of the AARP. Individual supporters include Robert N. Butler; former AHF Trustees Charles C. Edwards and Edmund D. Pellegrino; former Enron and ImClone director John Mendelsohn; Roz Lasker's "Medicine and Public Health" crony, M. David Low; former Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Louis Sullivan; and Laurance Rockefeller. (Supporters. National Coalition on Health Care. Link died http://www.nchc.org/members/supporters.shtml.)

Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation

Omenn is on the Medical Advisory Board of the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation, 2010. In 2008, LaSalle Leffall Jr. and Graham A. Colditz of the Harvard School of Public Healthwere board members. Marcia Myers Carlucci is a director, and Frank Carlucci and his crony from IRI International, Hushang Ansary, are donors to the Foundation, as are other corporations with which Carlucci has been affiliated, including General Dynamics, Nortel, and United Defense. (Medical Advisory Board. Prevent Cancer, 2008.)

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Omenn was on the Senior Advisory Council of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Fiscal Year 2002, along with Stanley M. Little, who as a Vice President of Boeing who participated in the National Conference on Smoking OR Health in 1981. (Senior Council, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 2002 Link died http://www.fhcrc.org/visitor/hutch_story/boards/senior_council.html.) Omenn is a member of the Senior Council, 2010, and a member of the Scientific Leadership of the CARET Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial, 2010.

President Obama

"Barack Obama has established a small but well-regarded inner circle of science advisors..." They pretend that "although
influence on the policies of a prospective Obama administration are unknown [!], they've played a prominent role in establishing his science platform to date." (Obama Campaign Reveals Science Advisors. By Brandon Keim. Wired Science, Sep. 17, 2008.)

cast 06-29-10