In this episode, we’re joined by Régine Sitruk-Ware, a distinguished scientist at the Population Council’s Center for Biomedical Research (CBR), and Chelsea Polis, senior scientist of epidemiology at CBR. They talk about the effect upcoming male birth control products could have on women's health.
Chelsea Polis, who won the 2023 Maddox prize early career award, explains how she was sued for identifying a mis-sold medical device and why, in an age of disinformation, researchers and clinicians must call out wrongdoing when they see it. Mun-Keat Looi reports
When Chelsea Polis questioned the evidence behind a fertility tracking thermometer, she soon found herself a defendant in a lawsuit.
In 2020 Polis, an epidemiologist, was sued for publicly sharing her scientific and regulatory concerns about the marketing of Daysy, a fertility device marketed as a contraceptive.1 The case was eventually dismissed, a flawed paper was retracted from the scientific literature, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) forced the manufacturer of Daysy, Valley Electronics, to change its marketing language.
Polis now advocates for laws to protect free speech for scientists and others. In November 2023 she was awarded the Maddox prize early career award for “her courage in challenging false m