From the Head of School
I ‘Iolani Community Science started with a vision of two opportunities, both of which have come to fruition in exceptional ways.
driven and self-serving narratives for it to foster the extent of anti- science decisions currently in play. Here, is one example of how the malignancy presents. In 1998, British physician Andrew Wakefield and colleagues published a study in The Lancet involving 12 children, suggesting a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism spectrum disorders. The study proposed that the MMR vaccine might cause intestinal inflammation, leading to the absorption of harmful proteins that could affect brain development, thereby contributing to autism. This claim was based on observations where some parents reported that behavioral symptoms appeared in their children shortly after MMR vaccination. However, extensive investigations later revealed that Wakefield had manipulated patient data and acted unethically, concluding that the study was fraudulent. In 2010, The Lancet fully retracted the paper, and Wakefield was stripped of his medical license. Yet here we are today, with a growing measles epidemic, growing distrust of vaccines, government leaders giving credibility to this fraudulent research, and, most alarming of all, a concerted defun- ding of federal support for medical research at universities and corporations. As a note of context, at the turn of the 20th century, about 60% of people in our society made it to age 18. One out of five children perished before adulthood. Currently, more than 99% of our children make it to age 18. There are, of course, multiple factors for this elimination of child mortality as part of our life experience, but vaccinations and modern medicine are by far the most causal. Misguided and manipulated public opinion, the political utility of health-related conspiracies, and our dwindling ability to put in the work and discipline to engage in unbiased, critical thinking have us, for the first time in our lives, looking at something as absurd as the reintroduction of child mortality. Among all the nonsense in our world that divides us, we agree that we love the people in our lives and want them to be healthy for a long time.The past century’s advances have made this a reality in many ways. Science is real, science is essential, and science needs defending.
NTERNALLY, through our Independent Research program, we aimed to create graduate-school-level research science for ‘Iolani students. The premise was that although one cannot achieve the comprehensive knowledge of a Ph.D. research program in high school, young adults are more than capable enough to traverse a highly focused path leading to this research level. This is Jack Kay’s legacy at ‘Iolani. And its growth under the guidance of Dr. Yvonne Chan and her research group has brought it national and international recognition. Externally, our goal was to build capacity within our State of Hawai‘i public schools to offer high-level modern genomics education and analogous research opportunities for students statewide. ‘Āina Informatics Network was born from this, and ‘Iolani leads this effort of institutional service to schools and students throughout our state. I invite you to enjoy this issue’s article on ‘Iolani Community Science and its achievements. The basis of our school’s commitment to science is the belief that it is one of the fundamental tools moving humanity forward in positive and expansive ways. This position served us well during the COVID-19 pandemic as we engaged experts, created a safety protocol, and fabricated personal protective equipment within the Sullivan Center for Innovation and Leadership. This objective application of science also allowed our students to remain on campus throughout the pandemic, mitigating the now well-established mental health issues associated with pandemic-related isolation. And we did this with zero cases of on-campus transmission until the vaccinations became available. The application of science as a discipline has served us well. However, as I write this, we are yet again, Galileo et al., at an inflection point of dwindling belief in science in favor of subjective, biased, and politicized interpretations of the natural world. Please consider from this letter that just as we work together for justice, equality, human dignity, and other social ideals, we must embrace science’s sanctity for the greater good with equal commitment. We collectively benefit from a commitment to science and a directionality of research that betters the human condition. Here’s the rub and resulting malignancy. There is no 100% safe medi- cation or treatment for serious illness. This is a simple truth and an aspect of nature’s entropic engine. While this might sound somewhat scary, it is genuinely frightening if we don’t accept this as an aspect of nature and instead employ it as a causal fallacy to drive a non-scientific agenda. We are watching an erosion of public trust and opportunistic mythmaking around science to serve political expediency. Social media has created the platform for this disinformation. However, it requires that we relinquish critical thinking and embrace emotionally
Timothy R. Cottrell, Ph.D. HEAD OF SCHOOL
VOL.63 I NO.3 I 2025 I 07
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator