Simon Thornley

Thornley trained as a medical doctor prior to joining the University of Auckland as a public health academic specialising in epidemiology and biostatistics. He graduated from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Human Biology in 1997, a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in May 2000, and Master of Public Health with First Class Honours in 2006 and a Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine in 2015.{{Cite web|title=Graduation search results – The University of Auckland|url=https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/for/current-students/cs-academic-information/cs-graduation-information/cs-graduation-search-and-confirmation/cs-graduation-search-results.html|access-date=22 July 2021|website=www.auckland.ac.nz}} His 2014 doctoral thesis was Studies of cardiovascular disease risk estimation: how, and whether, to account for the effect of drug treatment?{{cite thesis |last=Thornley |first=Simon |year=2014 |type=Doctoral thesis |title=Studies of cardiovascular disease risk estimation: how, and whether, to account for the effect of drug treatment? |publisher=ResearchSpace@Auckland, University of Auckland |hdl=2292/23534 |url=https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/2292/23534}}

Thornley is a part of 'FIZZ', a group of New Zealand health researchers aiming to eliminate sugary drinks from New Zealand by 2025.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fizz.org.nz/|title=Welcome to FIZZ | FIZZ|website=www.fizz.org.nz}} He has researched the links between scabies and other health issues in relation to health inequities.{{Cite web|url=https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2019/09/30/why-we-need-to-pay-more-attention-to-scabies-in-new-zealand-chil.html|title=Why we need to pay more attention to scabies in New Zealand children – The University of Auckland|website=www.auckland.ac.nz}}{{Cite journal|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jpc.14697|title=How strong is the relationship between scabies and acute rheumatic fever? An analysis of neighbourhood factors|first1=Simon|last1=Thornley|first2=Ron|last2=King|first3=Roger|last3=Marshall|first4=Amanda|last4=Oakley|first5=Gerhard|last5=Sundborn|first6=Jay|last6=Harrower|first7=Edwin|last7=Reynolds|first8=Mark|last8=Arbuckle|first9=Richard J.|last9=Johnson|date=23 July 2020|journal=Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health|volume=56|issue=4|pages=600–606|via=Wiley Online Library|doi=10.1111/jpc.14697|pmid=31774599|s2cid=208318336|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/398813/scabies-needs-to-be-taken-more-seriously-says-health-researcher|title=Scabies needs to be taken more seriously, says health researcher|date=15 September 2019|website=RNZ }}

Thornley is a member of the Covid Plan B group,{{Cite web|url=https://www.covidplanb.co.nz/|title=Covid Plan B|website=Covid Plan B}} which has repeatedly criticised the New Zealand government's management of the COVID pandemic, and "Thornley [has] become the most notable critic of the Government’s Covid-19 elimination strategy".{{Cite web |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/125035835/the-scientist-and-the-rabbit-hole-how-epidemiologist-simon-thornley-became-an-outcast-of-his-profession|title=The scientist and the rabbit hole: How epidemiologist Simon Thornley became an outcast of his profession|date=20 May 2021|website=Stuff}} Thornley said that elimination of COVID-19 was "unrealistic and over-ambitions" but epidemiologist Rod Jackson claimed that Thornley [was] "the only dissenter in the epidemiological community."{{Cite news|last=Witton|first=Bridie|date=5 August 2020|title=Coronavirus: Is elimination still the best strategy|work=stuff|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/122452877/coronavirus-is-elimination-still-the-best-strategy|access-date=14 January 2022}} Early in the pandemic, Thornley was quoted as saying "Hanging out for a vaccine is not an option... a fantasy, in my view."{{Cite news|url=https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/08/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-a-fantasy-controversial-epidemiologist-simon-thornley.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200831052103/https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/08/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-a-fantasy-controversial-epidemiologist-simon-thornley.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=31 August 2020|title=Coronavirus: COVID-19 vaccine a 'fantasy' – controversial epidemiologist Simon Thornley|newspaper=Newshub }} The Covid Plan B group was widely criticised,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/09/coronavirus-scientist-hits-back-after-being-quoted-out-of-context-by-anti-lockdown-group.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200905042838/https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/09/coronavirus-scientist-hits-back-after-being-quoted-out-of-context-by-anti-lockdown-group.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 September 2020|title=Coronavirus: Scientist hits back after being quoted 'out of context' by anti-lockdown group|newspaper=Newshub }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsroom.co.nz/page/covid-19-should-nz-go-swedens-way |title=Why NZ shouldn't go the Sweden way|date=18 August 2020|website=Newsroom}} but they responded by saying that their freedom of expression was being shut down{{Cite web |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018743518/covid-19-contrarians-claim-they-re-being-censored |title=Covid-19 contrarians claim they're being censored|date=21 April 2020|website=RNZ }} and that there was 'censorship of alternate views.'{{Cite news|url=https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/04/coronavirus-health-experts-feel-censored-over-alternative-lockdown-plan.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423031706/https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/04/coronavirus-health-experts-feel-censored-over-alternative-lockdown-plan.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 April 2020|title=Coronavirus: Health experts feel censored over alternative lockdown plan|newspaper=Newshub }}

In March 2021, the anti-misinformation group Fight Against Conspiracy Theories issued an open letter to the Covid Plan B group including Thornley criticising their partnership with the anti-vaccination group Voices for Freedom (VFF).{{cite web |title=Open Letter to Covid Plan B |url=https://archive.org/details/an-open-letter-to-plan-b |access-date=20 March 2023}} Thornley served as a keynote speaker at a VFF event in March 2021 and appeared on the group's webshow. Covid Plan B's Facebook page also shared social media posts by Voices for Freedom.{{cite news |last1=Meier |first1=Cecile |title=Anti-lockdown group of academics criticised for promoting conspiracy theorists |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/124552930/antilockdown-group-of-academics-criticised-for-promoting-conspiracy-theorists |access-date=20 March 2023 |agency=stuff |date=17 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115094721/https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/124552930/antilockdown-group-of-academics-criticised-for-promoting-conspiracy-theorists|archive-date=15 November 2021|url-status=live}}

Siouxsie Wiles, a fellow University of Auckland academic, wrote that "Simon Thornley of the Plan B group, about whom I’ve written before, has given evidence in support of the group trying to halt the roll-out [of the COVID vaccine]" in an article on COVID-related misinformation.{{Cite web|url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/15-05-2021/siouxsie-wiles-theres-a-lot-of-vaccine-bs-around-heres-why-i-wont-be-debunking-it/|title=Siouxsie Wiles: There's a lot of vaccine BS around. Here's why I won't be debunking it|date=15 May 2021 |website=The Spinoff}} Thornley responded through a lawyer claiming the article was a "defamatory publication" and demanding his name be removed and a correction.{{Cite web |url= https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/22-07-2021/simon-thornley-of-plan-b-sends-legal-threat-to-siouxsie-wiles-and-the-spinoff/ |title=Simon Thornley of 'Plan B' sends legal threat to Siouxsie Wiles and The Spinoff |date=22 July 2021 |website=The Spinoff}}

A 2021 paper which Thornley co-authored which linked mRNA vaccines, such as the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, to significantly higher rates of miscarriage was publicly criticised by the academic community throughout New Zealand, including the Head and other senior members of the university’s School of Population Health, for ignoring evidence that had already been published in a high-impact peer-reviewed research journal, and for a less-than-rigorous analysis of the data provided by the Center for Disease Control in the USA.{{Cite web|date=13 November 2021|title=Covid-19: A paper on vaccination in pregnancy co-authored by Simon Thornley has been panned by experts around the world|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/126906088/covid19-a-paper-on-vaccination-in-pregnancy-coauthored-by-simon-thornley-has-been-panned-by-experts-around-the-world|access-date=13 November 2021|website=Stuff|language=en}} The paper, which was published in a small journal edited by an American anti-vaccination advocate,{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} was retracted in November 2021, with Thornley saying that he and his co-author had made a major mathematical error.{{Cite web|last=Collins|first=Benedict|last2=Reporter|first2=1News Political|title=Simon Thornley retracts bogus vaccination miscarriage claim|url=https://www.1news.co.nz/2021/11/17/simon-thornley-retracts-bogus-vaccination-miscarriage-claim/|access-date=17 November 2021|website=1 News}}

Also in November 2021, Thornley participated in a livestream with former Northland Member of Parliament Matt King, where they discussed alternative (and widely debunked) treatments for COVID-19, as well as downplaying the severity of the disease.{{Cite web|date=16 November 2021|title=National distances itself from ex-MP after video with Thornley|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018820774/national-distances-itself-from-ex-mp-after-video-with-thornley|access-date=16 November 2021|website=RNZ |language=en-nz}} Judith Collins, leader of the New Zealand National Party, distanced the party from these comments, saying that the party believed in the effectiveness of vaccines.{{Cite web|date=16 November 2021|title=National distances itself from ex-MP after video with Thornley|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018820774/national-distances-itself-from-ex-mp-after-video-with-thornley|access-date=16 November 2021|website=RNZ |language=en-nz}}

Thornley received the 2021 Bent Spoon Award from the NZ Skeptics society, for showing "the most egregious gullibility or lack of critical thinking in public coverage of, or commentary on, a science-related issue".{{Cite web|date=20 November 2021|title=NZ Skeptics Announce their 2021 awards, and Dr Simon Thornley wins the Bent Spoon|url=https://skeptics.nz/latest/releases/2021-awards|access-date=22 November 2021|website=NZ Skeptics|language=en-NZ}}

• Thornley, Simon, Chris Bullen, and Mick Roberts. "Hepatitis B in a high prevalence New Zealand population: a mathematical model applied to infection control policy." Journal of Theoretical Biology 254, no. 3 (2008): 599–603.
• Thornley, S. J., A. Woodward, John D. Langley, Shanthi N. Ameratunga, and Anthony Rodgers. "Conspicuity and bicycle crashes: preliminary findings of the Taupo Bicycle Study." Injury prevention 14, no. 1 (2008): 11–18.
• Bullen, Christopher, Hayden McRobbie, Simon Thornley, Marewa Glover, Ruey Lin, and M. Laugesen. "Effect of an electronic nicotine delivery device (e cigarette) on desire to smoke and withdrawal, user preferences and nicotine delivery: randomised cross-over trial." Tobacco control 19, no. 2 (2010): 98–103.
• Winnard, Doone, Craig Wright, William J. Taylor, Gary Jackson, Leanne Te Karu, Peter J. Gow, Bruce Arroll, Simon Thornley, Barry Gribben, and Nicola Dalbeth. "National prevalence of gout derived from administrative health data in Aotearoa New Zealand." Rheumatology 51, no. 5 (2012): 901–909.
• Lawes, Carlene MM, Simon Thornley, Robert Young, Raewyn Hopkins, Roger Marshall, Wing Cheuk Chan, and Gary Jackson. "Statin use in COPD patients is associated with a reduction in mortality: a national cohort study." Primary Care Respiratory Journal 21, no. 1 (2012): 35–40.

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Category:Living people

Category:New Zealand epidemiologists

Category:Biostatisticians

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Academic staff of the University of Auckland

Category:University of Auckland alumni