Jonathan T. Leo is a former Professor of Anatomy at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee.[1] He is currently an Associate Professor of Anatomy at the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine.[2] He has published articles critical of chemical and biological theories of mental illness. He is the former editor-in-chief of Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry. With Sami Timimi, he is also the co-editor of the book Rethinking ADHD.[3][4]

Jonathan Leo
NationalityAmerican
EducationMacalester College
University of Iowa
Scientific career
FieldsNeuroanatomy
InstitutionsLincoln Memorial University
Thesis Alcohol-induced neuropathology in the neonatal rat brain  (1995)
Doctoral advisorNicholas Pantazis


JAMA controversy edit

In 2008, Leo and Jeffrey Lacasse co-authored a letter to the editor that was published in JAMA. The letter criticized a randomized controlled trial that had been published in JAMA aimed at determining the effectiveness of the antidepressant drug escitalopram in the treatment of stroke. Leo and Lacasse criticized the original trial for not directly comparing the effectiveness of escitalopram with that of problem-solving therapy.[5] After this letter was published, Leo discovered through a Google search that one of the authors of the escitalopram paper, psychiatrist Robert Robinson, had received speaking fees from Forest Laboratories, the company that produces and sells the drug under the name Lexapro. Robinson had not disclosed this conflict of interest in the paper. Five months later, Leo and Lacasse published a letter on the website of the BMJ pointing out this conflict of interest.[6]

References edit

  1. ^ "Jonathan Leo, PhD". Lincoln Memorial University. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
  2. ^ "Faculty & Staff".
  3. ^ Goldhill, Olivia (2017-12-29). "30 years after Prozac arrived, we still buy the lie that chemical imbalances cause depression". Quartz. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
  4. ^ "Johnathan Leo, Ph.D. bio". NARPA. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
  5. ^ Lacasse, Jeffrey (2008-10-15). "Escitalopram, Problem-Solving Therapy, and Poststroke Depression". JAMA. 300 (15): 1757–8, author reply 1758–9. doi:10.1001/jama.300.15.1757-c. ISSN 0098-7484. PMID 18854528.
  6. ^ Leo, Jonathan; Jeffrey Lacasse, Assistant Professor of Social Work (2019-07-11). "Clinical Trials of Therapy versus Medication: Even in a Tie, Medication wins". BMJ. 338 (feb05 1): b463. doi:10.1136/bmj.b463. ISSN 0959-8138. S2CID 57582276.

External links edit