Alice Dreger is a medical historian, journalist, author of several books including Galileo’s Middle Finger, former professor of medical humanities and bioethics at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern, and no stranger to controversy. She has been defending academic freedom, including her own, for about 20 years. She has defended scientists and other scholars against political attack on multiple issues and worked to expose unethical conduct in experimental medical treatment. She resigned her academic appointment at Northwestern over censorship by her dean.
For her courage and persistence in standing up to academic censorship, the Academic Freedom, the Columbia Academic Freedom Council is honored to present Alice Dreger with the 2025 Academic Freedom Award.
