Science, Scrutiny and Humility
When investigative journalist and former Synapse staff writer Charles Piller addressed UCSF students during this year’s Science Speaker Series, he delivered more than a warning about scientific misconduct. Drawing from his reporting on fraudulent Alzheimer’s research, Piller challenged future scientists and health professionals to embrace humility, accountability and open dialogue — especially when confronting uncomfortable truths inside academic medicine.
Piller, investigative journal for Science and author of Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's, served as a staff writer for Synapse through the 1980s. Last month, he joined several dozen students over Zoom for the eighth annual Synapse Science Speaker, which brings journalists, researchers and science communicators to UCSF to discuss issues shaping science, medicine and public health. The series gives students an opportunity to engage directly with speakers about their work, reporting methods and the broader social and ethical questions surrounding scientific research and healthcare.
Piller took a moment during his presentation to offer students a broader reflection on the kind of leadership he hopes they bring to science and medicine.
“If you are students at UCSF, you are likely to become leaders in public research and in the health professions, and I’m just urging you to honor humility,” Piller said. “Keep your minds open. Try to reach people where they are instead of where you would like them to be.”
Piller returned to that theme as he described the fraudulent Alzheimer’s research at the center of his book.
“Remember that misconduct really harms all of us and destroys the heart and credibility that science, research, and medicine has really been losing to some degree in this modern period,” he said.
Throughout the presentation, Piller modeled the art of addressing sticky or uncomfortable topics head on. He described some of his last investigative work at Synapse surrounding the controversy of the opening of the Laurel Heights campus and neighborhood pushback at the time at the possibility of labs opening there.
During the Q&A, Piller fielded numerous student questions about the precise language required in investigative reporting, including his use of the word “apparent” in the phrase “apparent image doctoring” when describing allegedly fraudulent Alzheimer’s research.
Using slides he prepared in anticipation of those questions, Piller walked students through the extensive reporting and verification behind his book, showing how careful research allowed him to use language that was both precise and defensible.
Even so, Piller said his reporting drew significant criticism. Rather than avoiding the topic, he shared links and screenshots of responses to his work, including a debate piece published in JAMA by UCSF’s Gil Rabinovici and University of California, Irvine’s Joshua Grill.
Piller described the way academic journals kept him from writing responses to these critiques. And when Freakonomics Radio invited critics of his work to debate Piller on the popular podcast, he stated that producers could not get anyone to agree.
In reflecting on this conversation later, I thought about the ways in which humility can be practiced by students, our faculty, and our administrators through more open dialogues.
The discussion with Piller painted a picture of a larger, alarming trend among scientists and providers who have such enormous influence over public health yet are afforded retreat into protected, academic siloes when challenged.
As students, we should be willing to push one another to engage in difficult conversations with faculty, administrators and peers alike. Approaching those discussions with humility not only deepens learning, but also helps build the communication and critical thinking skills needed to better serve patients.
Watch the full video of the event on our Youtube channel.
