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Eric Fombonne, MD, FRCP, (b. 1954, Paris, France) is a professor of psychiatry and an epidemiologist. Dr. Fombonne directs the child psychiatry division at McGill University in Canada and the psychiatry department at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, where he played a key role in the launch of its autism clinic. Fombonne is also the Canada Research Chair in child psychiatry. His research focuses on epidemiological investigations of childhood mental illness and related risk factors, with a particular focus on the epidemiology of autism.

Dr. Fombonne is a permanent member of a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) study section and has been appointed to a special National Institute of Health (NIH) advisory board for autism research programs. In October, 2002 he became the president of the Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of Canada (APCAPC).

Contents 1 Research endeavors 1.1 Autism epidemic 2 Autism research challenged 2.1 Quote 3 Published works 4 Family 5 External links

Prior to his arrival in Canada, Fombonne was a researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College in London, United Kingdom, where he also worked as a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Maudsley Hospital. While there, he and his colleagues were credited with demonstrating that there is no epidemiological evidence suggesting a link between the MMR vaccine with autism, as postulated by other researchers including Dr. Andrew Wakefield. In a New Scientist article he is quoted as having said "Trying to link this with MMR is complete nonsense."

One of the major studies conducted by Fombonne examined depression, which linked alcohol abuse to increased suicidal tendencies in boys, using data on 6,000 subjects.

At McGill University, Fombonne has consolidated the Autism Spectrum Disorder program in Montreal since his appointment there in 2001. He currently heads an autism research program directed at evaluating environmental risk factors, such as vaccines, and investigating genetic risks associated with the heritability of autism. He has also been involved in molecular genetic studies of clinical depression, and in long-term outcome studies of child and adolescent depression.

Fombonne has reported that the prevalence of autism is 68 per 10,000, or one in 147. His data indicates the prevalence of autism has increased between 600% and 3400%.[1]

He has often been cited for representing the apparent rise in cases was due to wider recognition of the condition, asserting that claims of an 'autism epidemic' are unfounded.[2] In 2001, he told the BBC "That rates in recent surveys are substantially higher than 30 years ago merely reflects the adoption of a much broader concept of autism, a recognition of autism among normally intelligent subjects and an improved identification of persons with autism."

The National Autism Association has pointed out flaws in a study by Fombonne published in 2006 by the journal Pediatrics, citing data that indicates Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) rates continued to increase in tandem with increased MMR vaccine coverage in Montreal and the introduction of a second dose of MMR for children aged 18 months in 1996. Rates also continued to increase after 1996 but contrary to Dr. Fombonne's statement that Thimerosal-exposure after 1996 was NIL, foreign-born children and native children less than 7 years old with at least one parent from a list of more than 100 countries (Montreal Health Dept.) with high prevalence of Hepatitis B may have received the Hepatitis B vaccine series before a Thimerosal-free hepatitis B vaccine was licensed in 2001. A peak rate of 1 in 87 children diagnosed with PDD was reached for the 1999 birth cohort in 2006-2007. Sandra Caron, clinical nurse of the International Health Clinic of Ste.Justine's children Hospital, Montreal wrote: "Practically all children present a vaccinal delay or don't have the same vaccines than here, or vaccines of foreign countries are more or less reliable, so vaccination has to be readministered from the beginning" and these children represent another subset of the population that could have been exposed to even larger amounts of Tm during Fombonne's "nil" exposure period. The data on children studied by Fombonne consisted of a single Montreal school board, suggesting a regional data bias. Dr. David Ayoub, and co-authors Dr. Edward Yazbak, Monica Ruscitti, broadened the data to include all five Montreal school boards. Fombonne's earlier study reported PDD rates in children from Montreal, but used MMR coverage data from Quebec City, which is located 265 km from Montreal. The researchers confirmed MMR coverage rates in fact increased in Montreal in tandem with PDD rates, noting a sharper rise in rates after the number of MMR vaccinations required for school children doubled.

• "Does this mean there is an epidemic of PDD? Not at all. We believe the high rates we are seeing are the result of a combination of factors. With improved recognition of the symptoms, diagnosis of PDD is now being made more frequently and at an earlier age, thus increasing the number of children being diagnosed. More rigorous methods used in recent surveys have also improved our ability to find cases of PDD. The lower rates found in two of the most recent studies, for instance, most certainly reflect less sensitive case finding approaches."[3] Eric Fombonne

Fombonne has written over 130 scientific reports in peer reviewed journals and 25 book chapters. He was associate editor of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders from 1994 to 2003.

Fombonne is married to Rebecca Fuhrer, chair of the joint Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill, and is the father of three boys, Jonathan, Daniel and Benjamin.

• BBC.co.uk - 'Autism rates "not rising"', BBC (February 15, 2001)
• CAIRNE-Sitr.com - 'One in 165 children now estimated to have pervasive developmental disorder, three times greater than previously thought', Eric Fombonne, MD, FRCPsych, Canadian Autism Intervention and Research Network
• Chairs.gc.ca - 'Eric Fonbonne', Canada Research Chair in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Canada Research Chairs
• CPA-APC.org - 'Modern Views of Autism' (opinion), Eric Fombonne, MD, FRCPsych, Canadian Journal of Psychiatry (September, 2003)
• MUHC.ca - 'Dr. Eric Fombonne elected to head two key associations', McGill University Research Center (September 24, 2002)
• UCDavis.edu - 'Eric Fombonne, M.D.: M.I.N.D. Institute Distinguished Lecturer Series' (December 14, 2005)
• PRNewsWire.com - 'Newly Released Canadian Data Links Vaccines with Pervasive Developmental Disorder', National Autism Association
• UoGuelph.ca - 'The Prevalence of Autism' (opinion), Eric Fombonne, MD, Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), vol 289, no 1, p 49 (January 1, 2003)
• VAProject.org - 'A Tale of Two Cities: Flawed Epidemiology', F. Edward Yazbak, MD, FAAP (March 7, 2007)