Timothy Caulfield is an author and professor. He’s a Canada Research Chair in health and law policy at the University of Alberta, a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and the host of A User’s Guide to Cheating Death on Netflix.

And soon, he’ll be an SFU honorary degree holder.

To celebrate the occasion, Professor Caulfield will deliver a free public talk on the dangers of health misinformation, and how to combat it.

Popular culture is rife with science-free misinformation amplified by celebrity marketers and what Caulfield calls a “wellness industry complex.” As trust in conventional health-care systems is eroding and social media platforms are used to spread pseudoscience and conspiracy theories, it is becoming harder to tell scientific truth from nonsense.

And it could be killing us.

“There is growing recognition that this kind of health misinformation is having a tangible impact on the public’s health,” says Caulfield. “For example, the World Health Organization recently declared the vaccine hesitancy caused by vaccination myths to be one of the top threats to global health.”

Caulfield calls for a stronger response to misinformation and unproven healthcare practices. From greater oversight of health and wellness marketing, to stricter regulation of healthcare professions, and deeper public engagement from the science community, more must be done to protect public health and our critical thinking.

Join us for a provocative, no-nonsense, thought-provoking discussion on October 9th. And bring your questions! Professor Caulfield’s talk will include a Q&A moderated by Professor Tania Bubela, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University.