Gideon Koren


Gideon Koren, FACMT, FRCP (; born August 27, 1947 in Tel Aviv, Israel is an Israeli-Canadian pediatrician, clinical pharmacologist, toxicologist, and a composer of Israeli popular music.
Koren is perhaps best known for being at the centre of the Motherisk scandal which has thrown into doubt the findings of 16,000 child protection cases and six criminal cases. An independent review found that neither the laboratory's director, clinical toxicologist Gideon Koren, nor his staff, had the qualifications or expertise to do that kind of forensic work.
Prior to this Koren was officially reprimanded by the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons for writing harassing anonymous letters to Nancy Olivieri and three other colleagues, about which he then lied repeatedly to conceal his responsibility. The Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons also cited him for additional misconduct in research.
On December 16, 2018, an investigative article in The Toronto Star reported apparent problems in more than 400 papers coauthored by Koren, including that the papers " inadequately peer-reviewed, fail to declare, perhaps even obscure, conflicts of interest and, in a handful of cases, contain lies about the methodology.” In 2019 Koren threatened a defamation lawsuit against the editor of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring for retracting one of Koren's papers. As of 2020, Koren has had two of his research publications retracted, two others have received an expression of concern, and four others have been corrected.
In February 2019, Koren agreed to relinquish his licence to practice medicine in Ontario in the face of an investigation by the College of Physicians and Surgeons into whether he committed “professional misconduct or was incompetent” while he was in charge of the Hospital for Sick Children’s Motherisk laboratory. He also agreed never to re-apply for a medical licence in the province.

Biography

Early life and academic background

Born in 1947 in Tel Aviv in the British Mandate of Palestine, prior to the establishment of the State of Israel, Koren was raised in the neighbouring town of Kiryat Ono. His father was the chief engineer of Reading Power Station of the Israel Electric Corporation.
Koren received his Doctor of Medicine from the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University in 1973. After a period of military service, he pursued postgraduate clinical studies in pediatrics and pediatric nephrology, and research training in pediatric toxicology and pharmacology and membrane biology at the Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto. He joined the staff of the university and hospital, ultimately attaining the rank of professor. He later received the endowed Ivey Chair in Molecular Toxicology at the Schulich School of Medicine at The University of Western Ontario. At UWO, he participated in the establishment of a national program in human toxicology, in parallel with his continuing work at the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children.

Arts background

In parallel to his academic career, Koren is an established composer and author. In 1971, while studying medicine at TAU, Gideon "Gidi" Koren founded the Israeli musical group, The Brothers & the Sisters, which features an Israeli folk/country style. The band performed many of Koren's songs and musical plays for children.
In 1974, in collaboration with Israeli performer Shlomo Artzi, Koren composed a record album based on his grandmother Keri's story, A Journey to Noteland. A musical based on the book and CD of A Journey to Noteland had its stage debut in Israel in 2008 and continues to be performed.
In 1992 Koren founded the Bear Theatre at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. In July 2007 the theatre celebrated 15 years and 750 shows.
In 2005, The Brothers & The Sisters toured North America following the publication of a commemorative Hebrew-English book of the Israeli poet Natan Yonatan’s poetry, accompanied by a CD of his songs, set to music by Koren and performed by the band. The Brothers and the Sisters continue to perform throughout Israel in programs featuring Koren's songs, many of which were written to the words of Israeli poets, including Yehudah Amichai, Leah Goldberg, Rachel, Amir Gilboa, and Ze’ev Jabotinsky.

Professional contributions

In 1985, Koren founded The Hospital for Sick Children's Motherisk Program in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which he directed until his retirement in June 2015. The program has since been shut down amid controversy.

Publications

Koren has published 15 medical books, among them:
In 1996, a controversy erupted with regard to the safety and effectiveness of deferiprone. Koren believed the drug was effective for certain patients. Olivieri of Toronto believed the drug was unsafe and ineffective. Following the initial controversy surrounding this drug trial in Toronto, Koren sent five anonymous harassing letters to colleagues and later denied having done so. Two independent inquiries by the CAUT and CPSO found that Koren had lied about sending the anonymous letters and only admitted guilt when confronted with DNA evidence against him. Both also found academic misconduct with respect to the way in which Koren published the research article cited above on the safety and effectiveness of deferiprone. CAUT accepted "the parties’ submissions that this misconduct should not be represented as fraudulent" and further remarked that "It was the behaviour that preceded the research misconduct that the Committee found most unsettling."
A later study reported no evidence of that long-term therapy with deferiprone caused progression of hepatic fibrosis. Cumulative worldwide experience has confirmed Koren's position on deferiprone, indicating that deferiprone is safe and effective for some patients. As a direct result of Olivieri's public media campaign, approval for the medication was stalled, meaning that North American children continued to be denied a medication which had since been approved around the world in dozens of countries and could be the only hope for survival for some children.