Group of Doctors Tells Columbia University to Fire Dr. Oz

2 minute read

A group of doctors has written a letter urging Columbia University to fire Dr. Mehmet Oz from its faculty.

“Dr. Oz has repeatedly shown disdain for science and for evidence-based medicine, as well as baseless and relentless opposition to the genetic engineering of food crops,” said the letter addressed to Columbia’s Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine, reports CBS. “Worst of all, he has manifested an egregious lack of integrity by promoting quack treatments and cures in the interest of personal financial gain.”

Oz is a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon and vice-chair of the department of surgery at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, but he’s also a television personality with The Dr. Oz Show. And according to medical experts, only 46% of the recommendations on his show were supported by evidence.

The letter, authored by a doctor at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and co-signed by nine other doctors, ends, “Whatever the nature of his pathology, members of the public are being misled and endangered, which makes Dr. Oz’s presence on the faculty of a prestigious medical institution unacceptable.”

A university spokesman emailed the doctors in response, stating: “As I am sure you understand and appreciate, Columbia is committed to the principle of academic freedom and to upholding faculty members’ freedom of expression for statements they make in public discussion.”

Read next: Lawmakers Caution Dr. Oz on Weight-Loss Tips

Listen to the most important stories of the day.

More Must-Reads from TIME

Write to Tessa Berenson Rogers at tessa.Rogers@time.com