Nancy Fern Olivieri

Nancy Fern Olivieri (born 1954) is a prominent Toronto haematologist and researcher with an interest in the treatment of haemoglobinopathies. She is best known for a protracted struggle with the Hospital for Sick Children and the pharmaceutical company Apotex about the drug deferiprone.

Early life Olivieri was born to the Hamilton, Ontario, Doctor Fernando Olivieri and Victoria Olivieri. Her paternal grandfather had immigrated to Hamilton from Italy in 1909. She has also pursued training in Internal Medicine and Hematology at McMaster, University of Toronto, and Harvard University.

Olivieri's scientific findings, which sparked the controversy, have been challenged on the basis of data from clinical trials conducted by Apotex.

Deferiprone is approved for use in over 50 countries, but not in Canada. It was approved in the US in 2011 under the FDA's accelerated approval program.

An investigation commissioned by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) revealed that one of Olivieri's critics, Gideon Koren, had anonymously sent disparaging letters about Olivieri to the media and colleagues. Koren initially denied responsibility, but substantial DNA evidence tied him to the letters, and he was reprimanded.

Olivieri has advocated greater academic freedom and called for less control of research by pharmaceutical companies. This situation was publicised extensively and was investigated by the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

Olivieri is the 2023 recipient of the John Maddox Prize in recognition of her “determination to act with integrity…in the face of extreme pressure from the company producing it, ultimately at great personal cost” in the Deferiprone controversy. The Maddox Prize is awarded by the UK-based Sense about Science charity in partnership with Nature (journal).