Eric Fombonne
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Eric Fombonne, MD, FRCP, (b. 1954, Paris, France) is a professor of psychiatry and an epidemiologist. He directs the child psychiatry division at McGill University in Canada and the psychiatry department at the Montreal Children's Hospital, where he played a key role in the launch of its autism clinic. Fombonne is also the Canada Research Chair in child psychiatry. His research focuses on epidemiological investigations of childhood mental illness and related risk factors, with a particular focus on the epidemiology of autism.
Fombonne is a permanent member of a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) study section and has been appointed to a special National Institute of Health (NIH) advisory board for autism research programs. In October, 2002 he became the president of the Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of Canada (APCAPC).
Research
Prior to his arrival in Canada, Fombonne was a researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College in London, United Kingdom, where he also worked as a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Maudsley Hospital. While there, he and his colleagues were credited with demonstrating that there is no epidemiological evidence of a link between the MMR vaccine with autism, as postulated by other researchers including Andrew Wakefield. A New Scientist article quotes Fombonne as saying "Trying to link this with MMR is complete nonsense."
One of the major studies conducted by Fombonne examined depression, which linked alcohol abuse to increased suicidal tendencies in boys, using data on 6,000 subjects.
At McGill University, Fombonne has consolidated the Autism Spectrum Disorder program in Montreal since his appointment there in 2001. He currently heads an autism research program directed at evaluating environmental risk factors, such as vaccines, and investigating genetic risks associated with the heritability of autism. He has also been involved in molecular genetic studies of clinical depression, and in long-term outcome studies of child and adolescent depression. Template:Rquote
Autism epidemic
Fombonne has reported that the prevalence of autism is 68 per 10,000, or one in 147.
He attributes the apparent rise in autism cases to wider recognition of the condition, and argues that claims of an 'autism epidemic' are unfounded.[1] In 2001, he told the BBC "That rates in recent surveys are substantially higher than 30 years ago merely reflects the adoption of a much broader concept of autism, a recognition of autism among normally intelligent subjects and an improved identification of persons with autism."
Published works
Fombonne has written over 130 scientific reports in peer reviewed journals and 25 book chapters. He was associate editor of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders from 1994 to 2003.
Family
Fombonne was married to Rebecca Fuhrer, chair of the joint Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill, and is the father of four boys, Jonathan, Daniel, Benjamin and Arthur.
External links
- BBC.co.uk - 'Autism rates "not rising"', BBC (February 15, 2001)
- CAIRNE-Sitr.com - 'One in 165 children now estimated to have pervasive developmental disorder, three times greater than previously thought', Eric Fombonne, MD, FRCPsych, Canadian Autism Intervention and Research Network
- Chairs.gc.ca - 'Eric Fonbonne', Canada Research Chair in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Canada Research Chairs
- CPA-APC.org - 'Modern Views of Autism' (opinion), Eric Fombonne, MD, FRCPsych, Canadian Journal of Psychiatry (September, 2003)
- MUHC.ca - 'Dr. Eric Fombonne elected to head two key associations', McGill University Research Center (September 24, 2002)
- UCDavis.edu - 'Eric Fombonne, M.D.: M.I.N.D. Institute Distinguished Lecturer Series' (December 14, 2005)
- PRNewsWire.com - 'Newly Released Canadian Data Links Vaccines with Pervasive Developmental Disorder', National Autism Association
- UoGuelph.ca - 'The Prevalence of Autism' (opinion), Eric Fombonne, MD, Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), vol 289, no 1, p 49 (January 1, 2003)
- VAProject.org - 'A Tale of Two Cities: Flawed Epidemiology', F. Edward Yazbak, MD, FAAP (March 7, 2007)
Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
