Mark Geier

Mark Geier is a medical doctor based in Silver Spring, Maryland, who holds a PhD in genetics and is board-certified in medical genetics and forensic medicine. He was a researcher at the National Institutes of Health for 10 years and was previously a professor at Johns Hopkins University. He has studied vaccines for more than 30 years and has published over 50 peer-reviewed papers on vaccine safety, efficacy, contamination and policy.

Background

Mark Geier was born in Washington, D.C. in 1948.

Education:

• 1970 - B.S. George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
• 1970-1971 - Graduate Student Department of Human Genetics and Development, Columbia University, New York, NY
• 1973 - Ph.D. Genetics, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
• 1978 - M.D. George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

Work Experience:

• 1969-1970 - Research (Student) at the National Institutes for Health, Bethesda, MD
• 1970-1971 - NIH Traineeship at Columbia University, Department of Human Genetics and Development, New York, NY
• 1971-1973 - Research Geneticist, Laboratory of General and Comparative Biochemistry, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD
• 1973-1974 - Staff Fellow, Laboratory of General and Comparative Biochemistry, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD
• 1974-1978 - On Professional Staff Laboratory of General and Comparative Biochemistry NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD
• 1978-1979 - Intern and Fellow, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
• 1979-1982 - Assistant Professor, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
• 1980-1982 - Guest worker Laboratory of General and Comparative Biochemistry, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD
• 1981-1984 - Assistant Research Professor, Psychiatry Department, Uniformed School of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD
• 1988-1994 - Director of Genetics of Maryland Medical Laboratory, Inc. Baltimore, MD
• 1989-1994 - Member of the Substance Abuse and Doping Committee and the Sports Medicine and Science Committee of the United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation (Olympic Committee)

Board Certification:

• 1987 - American Board of Medical Genetics
• 1993 - Associate Member of the American College of Medical Genetics
• 1996 - Board Certified by the American Board of Forensic Examiners
• 1996 - Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Medicine

Other Positions:

• 1980-2003 - Laboratory Director Molecular Medicine, MD
• 1980-Present - Co-director of Genetic Consultants, Bethesda, MD
• 1981-Present - Director of Institute of Immuno-Oncology and Genetics, MD
• 1986-Present - President of Genetic Counseling and Research, Inc., T/A The Genetic Center, Baltimore, MD
• 1997-Present - President of Genetic Counseling and Research, Inc. T/A The Ultrasound Institute of Baltimore
• 1997-Present - President of the Genetic Centers of America
• 2001 - Host of one hour weekly medical talk show “The Dr. Mark Geier Show” on KFNX in Phoenix, Arizona, WALE in Provident, Rhode Island, and on the World Wide Web.

Journal Peer-Reviewer:

• Vaccine
• Expert Review of Vaccines
• Expert Opinion on Emerging Drugs
• Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology
• Environmental Health Perspectives
• Annals of Internal Medicine

Major Presentations:

• Addressed United States’ State Department, Foreign Service Institute (Washington, DC) on Contemporary Genetics
• Addressed the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (Washington, DC) on Vaccine Safety & Vaccine Policy Issues
• Addressed the Government Reform Committee of the United States’ House of Representatives (Washington, DC) on Vaccine Safety Issues
• Addressed the Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccine Advisory Committee (Silver Spring, MD) on Vaccine Safety Issues

Dr. Geier wrote the article, The True Story of Pertussis Vaccination: A Sordid Legacy? which won the first annual Stanley W. Jackson award for the best paper published in the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences during the period of 2000 to 2002. He has authored over 90 publications.

Dr. Geier has made several presentations to the Institute of Medicine on the adverse effects of vaccines. He and his son, David Geier, are the only independent researchers who have ever been permitted to study the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) database of the Centers for Disease Control.

Dr. Geier has testified before the US House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform Investigating Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic to critique the Hviid study, conducted in Denmark on autism and thimerosal exposure and he has also addressed the FDA Advisory Committee regarding vaccine safety. He has testified as an expert witness in about 100 cases before the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in the US Court of Federal Claims.

Dr. Geier has published several scientific reports, conducted with his son David Geier, on the relation between mercury exposure during infancy and the onset of neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Geier has suggested his research shows a direct causal link between vaccines containing the mercury based preservative thimerosal and the onset of neurological disorders, including autism.

Controversial studies

Dr. Geier and his son have published six studies on the possible link between autistic spectrum disorders and thimerosal containing vaccines (TCVs). In their first study, they compared the number of complaints associated with TCVs, administered between 1992 and 2000, to the number of complaints resulting from a thimerosal-free vaccine administered between 1997 and 2000. The children who received greater amounts of mercury were more likely to have a complaint filed with the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Further studies by the Geiers yielded similar results.

US health agencies have uniformly rejected the conclusions of the Geiers' studies, and one of their articles was the subject of heavy criticism by the American Academy of Pediatrics[1]. Nevertheless, Dr. Geier says public health officials are "just trying to cover it up."

Limited access to Vaccine Safety Datalink records

On Feb. 17, 2004, a panel of medical experts was assembled by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), an arm of the National Academy of Sciences. The panel recommended the Center for Disease Control (CDC) ease its restrictions on outside scientists seeking access to its strictly confidential Vaccine Safety Datalink, containing over seven million records including reports of suspected adverse reactions to vaccines.

The Geiers have been granted access to this data [2], but the National Immunization Program found that "In summary, during the first visit the researchers conducted unapproved analysis on their datasets and on the second visit attempted to carry out unapproved analyses but did not complete this attempt. This analysis, had it been completed, could have increased the risk of a confidentiality breach. Before leaving, the researchers renamed files for removal which were not allowed to be removed. Had it gone undetected, this would have constituted a breach of the rules about confidentiality."[3]

Chelation research

Dr. Geier has also published studies which, he says, indicate autistic children excrete more mercury upon chelation than control subjects. Many of these autistic children are reported as having tests showing amounts of mercury excreted several times the normal levels. Chelation therapy is conventionally used only to treat heavy-metal poisoning, and carries the risk of overly reducing the levels of beneficial metals in the body, such as calcium.

An advocate for vaccine safety

Dr. Geier has supported efforts by Representatives Dr. Dave Weldon, Dan Burton, and Carolyn Maloney to pass legislation introduced in early 2005 to ban the use of mercury compounds (including thimerosal) in vaccines in the United States. Although mercury preservatives are being phased out in the United States, some influenza vaccines still contain thimerosal. Dr. Geier said in an interview that the link between thimerosal and autism was clear.

An NBC crew filmed a presentation by the Geiers before the network's Autism: The Hidden Epidemic?[4] series in February, 2005, but the producers chose not to use the material.

Credibility as expert witness questioned

Dr. Geier and his son also serve regularly as expert witnesses for parents seeking damages from the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Dr. Geier has been criticized over his qualifications in these hearings, wherein one Special Master labeled him "a professional witness" who "clearly lacks the expertise" required. [5]

On at least ten separate occasions the Special Master ruled that Geier lacked the necessary qualifications or board-certification to offer an expert opinion. Critics of the vaccine injury compensation system question the stringency of the requirements, which they contend effectively preclude fair presentation in the hearings of testimony from their experts. Litigants pressing vaccine damage claims have a dual challenge, since very few experts in relevant fields think thimerosal causes autism, and even fewer work in specialties required by the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

However, on November 25, 2003 Special Master French praised Geier’s credentials and vast experience and said:

Dr. Geier "ranks high among those who have studied vaccine issues through the medical literature on vaccines, databases, studies, articles and information on vaccine safety and efficacy in vaccine policy.

The tenor of his testimony in this case addressed the importance of statistical databases in providing statistical reliability and validity in interpreting the epidemiology and issues relating to autism and various vaccines. . . . Dr. Geier has recently proposed a data-sharing process that would improve the reliability of present statistical data that would include the present VAERS statistical database. It would be helpful in interpreting the epidemiology and issues relating to the autism controversy." [6]

See also

• 2000 Simpsonwood CDC conference
• Controversies in autism
• List of vaccine topics
• Vaccine controversy

External links

• JPandS.org (pdf) - 'Thimerosal in Childhood Vaccines, Neurodevelopment Disorders and Heart Disease in the United States', Mark and David Geier, Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Vol 8, No 1, Spring, 2003
• JPandS.org (pdf) - 'A Case-Control Study of Mercury Burden in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders', Jeff Bradstreet, MD, David A. Geier, BA, Jerold J. Kartzinel, MD, James B. Adams, PhD, Mark R. Geier, MD, PhD Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Vol 8, No 3, Summer, 2003
• MedSciMonit.com (pdf) - 'A two-phased population epidemiological study of the safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines: a follow up analysis', David A. Geier and Mark R. Geier, Med Sci Monit, Vol 11, No 4, April 1, 2005
• MomsAgainstMercury.org - 'A Shot in the Dark: Doctors Question Flu Shot Statistics', Kelly O'Meara (2004)
• MomsOnAMissionForAutism.org - Letter from Congressman Dave Weldon, M.D., to the CDC
• UniversityOfHealth.net - 'Institute of Medicine Report Stuns Scientific Community and Parents: Report Says No Evidence Mercury In Vaccines Related To Epidemic Levels of Autism' (May 20, 2004)
• IOM.edu - 'Immunization Safety Review: Vaccines and Autism', US Institute of Medicine (May 17, 2004)