Frederick K. Goodwin

Dr. Frederick K. Goodwin is a director of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and the host of a radio program on health issues that is nationally syndicated in the U.S., The Infinite Mind. The radio program is produced by Lichtenstein Creative Media, a Massachusetts-based company.

Background
A biographical note states that Goodwin "is a Professor of Psychiatry and Director of The Center on Neuroscience, Medical Progress, and Society, at The George Washington University Medical Center. He is a physician-scientist specializing in psychiatry and psychopharmacology, and is the former Director of NIMH. Prior to that, he held a Presidential Appointment as head of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration. From 1998 through 2004, Dr. Goodwin served as host of The Infinite Mind. His current responsibilities as Senior Contributor of the broadcast include special reports and guest hosting."

In March 2008, Goodwin's radio show broadcast an episode titled "Prozac Nation: Revisited," which featured Goodwin and three other prestigious medical experts discussing the controversial link between antidepressants and suicide. All four said that worries about the drugs have been overblown. Writing in Slate, however, Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer noted that "a crucial detail ... was never revealed to listeners: All four of the experts on the show, including Goodwin, have financial ties to the makers of antidepressants. Also unmentioned were the 'unrestricted grants' that The Infinite Mind has received from drug makers, including Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of the antidepressant Prozac." Brownlee and Lenzer also reported that Goodwin "is on the board of directors of Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, an industry-funded front, or "Astroturf" group, which receives a majority of its funding from drug companies."

On March 31, 1995, Goodwin appeared on a program titled "The Brain vs. the Mind: Has Freud Slipped?" on PBS's "Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg."

External Articles

 * Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer, "Stealth MarketersAre doctors shilling for drug companies on public radio?", Slate, May 9, 2008.