Edzard Ernst

• Born: January 30, 1948; Wiesbaden, West Germany (now Germany)

Overview

Edzard Ernst, a German-born British medical doctor and researcher, became the first professor of complementary medicine in the United Kingdom. His work focuses on the safety and efficacy of complementary medicine. Ernst has suggested that only about 5 percent of techniques that fall under the umbrella of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are supported by scientific evidence. He argues the majority of CAM is either insufficiently understood or not supported by the existing evidence.

In 1993, Ernst resigned from his position at the University of Vienna (in physical medicine and rehabilitation) to establish the Complementary Medicine Department at the University of Exeter in England. He is not a registered homeopath but has some training in homeopathy, herbalism, acupuncture, and other alternative approaches. He has been a member of the Medicines Commission of the British Medicines Control Agency, part of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. This governmental agency determines what materials may be marketed as medicinal treatments in the United Kingdom. Ernst has also been a member of the Scientific Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products of the Irish Medicines Board. In addition, he was a founding member of the Institute for Science in Medicine and has been chief editor of medical journals, including Alternative and Complementary Therapies, no longer being published, and Perfusion. Ernst has regularly contributed to news articles in The Guardian, campaigning for evidence-based perspectives on CAM, and, therefore, has become the main enemy of many in the community.

The books Healing, Hype, or Harm? A Critical Analysis of Complementary or Alternative Medicine (2008) and Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts About Alternative Medicine (2008), edited and cowritten, respectively, by Ernst, present balanced views of CAM practices. The chapters in the two books are not arguments against the various approaches; they are proposals that CAM methods should be reviewed in the context of evidence supporting their worth and in the context of approved medical standards. In the preface to Healing, Hype, or Harm? Ernst indicates that the purpose of the book is to critically examine “the various smoke screens” that are often used to prevent people from understanding the truth about certain medical philosophies and practices. In addition, he writes that the book’s contributors come from very different backgrounds and hold quite different views, yet they are all well informed. He attempts to examine the various methods associated with CAM from an objective standpoint. Finally, he indicates that the contributors used the existing evidence to identify those particular practices whose validity should be questioned.

Ernst remained a conspicuous figure in the CAM community in the twenty-first century, both lauded and derided for his belief in the importance of evidence-based CAM. In 2005, he asked that his name be removed from a report commissioned by then Prince Charles and written by economist Christopher Smallwood that promoted the adoption of CAM by the National Health Service. The scandal followed Ernst throughout his career, leading to his early retirement from Exeter. In 2015, Ernst was rewarded the John Maddox Prize for his diligent work promoting the science of CAM. That same year, he published a memoir, A Scientist in Wonderland: A Memoir of Searching for Truth and Finding Trouble. In 2018, he coauthored a book with Kevin Smith titled More Harm Than Good? The Moral Maze of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, where he explored the ability of seemingly intelligent people to hold irrational beliefs about the effectiveness of CAM. Speaking in 2021 at the first Global Congress on Scientific Thinking and Action, Ernst reiterated his belief that homeopathy and chiropractic remained the most troublesome areas of CAM. In 2022, Ernst published Charles, the Alternative Prince: An Unauthorised Biography, about his experience with the Smallwood Report and remained highly critical of Charles, who had become king upon Queen Elizabeth II's death that year. By the mid-2020s, Ernst remained active in his cause to promote scientific legitimacy in CAM. He continued to publish and edit articles in scientific journals discussing topics such as the ethics of CAM research and the dangers of the proliferation of misinformation in health care. He also presented further lectures on the importance of evidence-based CAM. 

Bibliography

"About." Edzard Ernst, edzardernst.com/about. Accessed 6 Sept. 2024.

Ernst, Edzard. A Scientist in Wonderland: A Memoir of Searching for Truth and Finding Trouble. Imprint Academic, 2015.

Ernst, Edzard, editor. Healing, Hype, or Harm? A Critical Analysis of Complementary or Alternative Medicine. Imprint Academic, 2008.

Ernst, Edzard, et al. The Desktop Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine: An Evidence-Based Approach. Mosby/Elsevier, 2006.

Singh, Simon, and Edzard Ernst. Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts About Alternative Medicine. W. W. Norton, 2008.