Rufus Barker Bausell, Jr. (born 1942) is an American biostatistician and retired professor at the
University of Maryland, Baltimore
The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1807, it is the second oldest college in Maryland and comprises some of the oldest professional schools of dentistry, law, me ...
, where, from approximately 1999 to 2004, he was the director of their center for studying complementary and alternative medicine. He was also the co-founder of the academic journal ''
Evaluation & the Health Professions'', and served as its editor-in-chief for more than three decades. An expert on research methods, he is known for criticizing
alternative medicine
Alternative medicine refers to practices that aim to achieve the healing effects of conventional medicine, but that typically lack biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or supporting evidence of effectiveness. Such practices are ...
, saying that alternative medical treatments are little to no more effective than
placebo
A placebo ( ) can be roughly defined as a sham medical treatment. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like saline), sham surgery, and other procedures.
Placebos are used in randomized clinical trials ...
s. He is the author of the book ''Snake Oil Science: The Truth About Complementary and Alternative Medicine'', published in 2007 by
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
. He has also written a book about teaching in the United States and how he feels it could be improved, entitled ''Too Simple to Fail''.
References
Living people
American critics of alternative medicine
University of Maryland, Baltimore faculty
American biostatisticians
1942 births
Place of birth missing (living people)
American academic journal editors
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