Victoria Wells Wulsin
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Victoria Elizabeth Wells Wulsin MD DrPH (born October 27, 1953) is a physician and two-time Democratic congressional candidate in the Second District of Ohio (map). She is a resident of Indian Hill, a suburb of Cincinnati.
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[edit] Early Life & Career
Wulsin was born in Elyria, Ohio, the daughter of a teacher and a social worker. She attended high school in Ohio and completed her undergraduate coursework at Harvard University[1]. After college, she returned to Ohio and earned a medical degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland on May 28, 1980. She received her masters in Public Health (1982) and her doctorate in Epidemiolgy (1985), both from the Harvard University School of Public Health.[2] Wulsin has obtained medical licenses in Massachusetts (1981) and Ohio (March 7, 1989). From 1989-1995, she was Director of Epidemiology in the City of Cincinnati's Health Department. From 1986-2001, she worked in various capacities for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her husband, Lawson Reed Wulsin, is a psychiatrist on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati.[3]
In April 2003, Wulsin founded a non-profit organization to fight AIDS in Africa, SOTENI International [1] which has its headquarters in Cincinnati and an office in Kenya. SOTENI has been "mainly aimed towards women and orphans who were most affected by the AIDS pandemic." [2] Soteni is a Swahili word which translates as "all of us."[3]
[edit] Politics
[edit] 2005 special election for Congress
Wulsin was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Congress to replace Rob Portman in the Second District of Ohio in the special primary held June 14, 2005. In the Democratic primary, Wulsin campaigned to reform health care to provide every citizen with coverage, promised to protect Social Security and the environment, said the Iraq War "has not been worth the cost of American service personnel or the dollars we have spent", and said America needed "fair trade" in the proposed CAFTA agreement. She also defended contraception, legal abortion and reproductive rights.
In the primary election, Wulsin finished second behind Paul Hackett. She received 3,800 votes (27.35%).
[edit] 2006 election for Congress
In 2006, Wulsin sought the Democratic nomination again. With Paul Hackett having announced he would not run again, she faced health care administrator James John Parker and civil engineer Jeff Sinnard, who both ran in 2005, and newcomers Gabrielle Downey, a high school teacher, and Thor Jacobs, a building contractor. Wulsin won the May 2 primary by nearly 15 percentage points and received the Democratic nomination for the 2nd District. She faced Rep. Jean Schmidt (R) in the November 2006 general election and was defeated by only 2,517 votes out almost 240,000 votes cast.[4] This is the closest that a Democrat has come to winning a full term in the heavily Republican 2nd District in 42 years; the last Democrat to win this district for a full term was future Governor Jack Gilligan, who held it for one term after being swept into office by the massive Democratic landslide of 1964.
Wulsin carried Pike County and Scioto County by wide margins and narrowly carried Brown County. She also defeated Schmidt in the 2nd's share of Hamilton County, by far the largest portion of the district; Schmidt had won Hamilton County during her special election victory against Hackett. However, Schmidt carried her home in Clermont County by over 8,000 votes, enabling her to keep the seat.
Wulsin has announced that she will seek a rematch against Schmidt in 2008.
[edit] 2006 Polls
| Source | Date | Wulsin (D) | Schmidt (R) | Undecided | Margin of error |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Survey USA | November 1, 2006 | 48% | 45% | 7% | -/+ 4 |
| SurveyUSA | October 17, 2006 | 40% | 48% | 12% | -/+ 4 |
| Majority Watch[4] | October 10, 2006 | 48% | 45% | 6% | -/+ 3 |
| SurveyUSA | September 21, 2006 | 42% | 45% | 12% | -/+ 4 |
| Momentum Analysis | June 2006 | 44% | 44% | 11% | -/+ 4 |
[edit] Malariotherapy Controversy
In 2004, Wulsin was hired by Cincinnati's Heimlich Institute to analyze data on "malariotherapy," a controversial AIDS cure which consists of infecting HIV+ patients with malaria. Since the early 1980s, The Heimlich Institute has also promoted "malariotherapy" to treat cancer and Lyme Disease.[5]) In December 2004, Wulsin produced a report for the Heimlich Institute entitled "Immunotherapy and Beyond." [6][7]
A request for an investigation of Wulsin's work for the Heimlich Institute was filed with the State Medical Board of Ohio on Nov. 3, 2006 by Robert S. Baratz MD PhD DDS of the National Council Against Health Fraud. His letter accused Wulsin of "participation in unsupervised, unapproved, and dangerous experiments." The "medical board will not confirm or comment on any investigation, but reports that as of Feb. 14, it has taken no action against Wulsin. The case apparently remains open." [5] Steve Black, Dr. Wulsin's opponent in the 2008 Democratic primary, made the matter a campaign issue via mailers[8] and a TV ad[9].
A Wulsin for Congress statement includes, "In the course of her work, (Dr. Wulsin) was given a single page of data from an experiment taking place in Africa...Dr. Wulsin's contract with the Heimlich Institute was terminated the day after her draft report was submitted for review by the Institute's board and the board of the parent Deaconess Foundation."[10]
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Vic Wulsin For Congress - Bio, May 25, 2008.
- ^ Curriculum Vitae, March 31, 2003.
- ^ Department of Psychiatry at UC, May 25, 2008.
- ^ District 2 Poll. Majority Watch (October 10, 2006).
- ^ Cincinnati Enquirer, February 17, 2008.
