Ratib Islam – Alternative Medicine: Challenging the Language of Insulation – TEDxTerryTalks2011
Ratib Islam provides a measured look at the rhetoric of alternative medicines, and explores its lack of distinction between evidence based and non evidence based claims.
Ratib is a 6th year B.Sc. student, majoring in biochemistry with a minor in philosophy. He became interested in alternative medicine in 2009 when naturopaths were recognized as physicians and doctors, capable of prescribing drugs previously restricted to physicians with MDs.
As a result, he co-founded a club, with two medical students and a medical graduate student, called UBC Students for Science Based Medicine to educate the public about alternative medicine from a critical approach. There aim is not to debunk or offer medical advice, but to educate and empower consumers by translating otherwise inaccessible information and obscure concepts. This is largely due to the risks of relying on unsubstantiated therapies and the lack of people engaged in this kind of service.
Club website: http:/www.sbmubc.org
November 5th, 2011. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Filmed by Craig Ross: Video edited by David Ng
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