Underqualified Candidate Appointed To Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS

A high-profile appointment of a scientist with questionable credentials is the selection of Dr. Joseph McIlhaney to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. McIlhaney is a Texas-based doctor known for his published disdain for the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and his continued advocacy of abstinence-only programs despite negligible evidence that they actually reduce pregnancy rates among young people.¹ Despite McIlhaney’s dearth of published, peer-reviewed scientific research or endorsement by any established medical societies, the George W. Bush administration has selected him to serve in a new capacity during a four-year term on the Advisory Committee to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).²

1. See “The Assault on Birth Control and Family Planning Programs,” Planned Parenthood, October 2003. Online at www.plannedparenthood.org/library/birthcontrol/031030_birthcontrol_report.pdf. See also C. Connolly, “Texas Teaches Abstinence with Mixed Grades,” Washington Post, January 21, 2003.

2. CDC press release, “Secretary Thompson appoints nine to CDC Advisory Committee,” February 20, 2003.