A September 30, 2005 item in the Wall Street Journal noted ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan's role in drawing attention to the Harvard School of Public Health's award to the unscientific scaremonger Erin Brockovich:
So one answer to "Why Erin?" could be that some at Harvard see her as a celebrity magnet whose pizzazzy presence may attract a few participants who might otherwise have skipped the affair. But what about the donors who will be boycotting the meeting, like the president of the American Council on Science and Health, Dr. Elizabeth Whelan? She and others on the Leadership Council's long roster of health experts know the truth about Ms. Brockovich's "science." As a sidebar, we note that the list of people who have received the top honor given by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health contains no pop icons or dubious achievers.
See also:
"Public Health or Brockovich Wealth?" (from Townhall.com and the Modesto Bee)