Pierre Kory

Pierre Kory is an American critical care physician who gained attention during the COVID-19 pandemic for advocating widespread off-label use of certain drugs as treatments for COVID-19, as president and co-founder of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC).^[1][2] Kory testified twice to the U.S. Senate regarding COVID-19. During his testimony in December 2020, Kory erroneously claimed that the antiparasitic medication ivermectin was a "wonder drug" with "miraculous effectiveness" against COVID-19.^[3]

Medical education and career

In 2002, Kory graduated from St. George's University with an MD and completed residency and fellowship training in critical care and pulmonary medicine.^[4] He did clinical rotations at the Weill Cornell School of Medicine.^[4]

Kory first practiced in Madison, Wisconsin, at UW Health, which is the academic medical center at the University of Wisconsin. He served there as the medical director for the Trauma and Life Support Center, in the outpatient pulmonary medicine clinic, where he performed bronchoscopic and pleural procedures.^[4]

Kory is an expert in critical care ultrasonography. In 2015, along with his two co-editors, Kory won the British Medical Association's 2015 President’s Choice award in medical textbooks for their work on Point of Care Ultrasound.^[4]

Kory was the critical care service chief at the UW Health University Hospital (part of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health) until May 2020.^[5][6] He later joined Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,^[7] before becoming a locum tenens physician.^[8]

COVID-19

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Kory advocated for using increasing doses of steroids and anticoagulants for hospitalized people with COVID-19, at a time when the general recommendation was merely for supportive care.^[6] Kory sees subsequent evidence from the RECOVERY Trial, which showed benefit from lower doses of corticosteroids, as vindicating his approach; medical researcher Kevin J. Tracey has said it is still unknown whether Kory's approach was beneficial or harmful. Kory has used other drugs off-label in his treatment regimens, including famotidine and intravenous vitamin C.^[6] Kory gave testimony as a guest of U.S. Senator Ron Johnson at a May 5, 2020, Senate hearing in which he called for use of steroids in COVID-19 patients.^[5][7] He resigned from UW Health in May out of frustration of its reluctance to implement such measures.^[6][8]

Kory is president and co-founder of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC),^[a] a U.S. organization of physicians formed in March 2020 that advocates for the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19.^[1][2][9] The FLCCC contends ivermectin could reduce viral load and accelerate recovery in patients, while the World Health Organization, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and European Medicines Agency advise against the use of ivermectin outside of clinical trials.^[10][11][12]

On December 8, 2020, Kory was a witness at a Senate hearing called by the US Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Ron Johnson,^[13] which was criticized as promoting fringe ideas about COVID-19.^[14] Kory described ivermectin as "miraculous" and as a "wonder drug" to be used against COVID-19. Video footage of his statements went viral on social media, receiving over one million views within a few days.^[3] Kory became a leading advocate of the use of ivermectin throughout the pandemic, promoting a conspiracy theory that its true effectiveness was being suppressed by the "Gods of Science" who wanted to monopolize scientific information.^[15] Kory resigned from Aurora St Luke's afterwards, claiming new contracts threatened to limit his freedom to speak.^[7][8]

Books

• Soni, Nilam J; Arntfield, Robert; Kory, Pierre, eds. (2015). Point of Care Ultrasound. Elsevier. ISBN 978-0323544702.

Notes

References

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance homepage