Sidney Manuel Wolfe (June 12, 1937 – January 1, 2024) was an American physician and the co-founder and director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, a consumer and health advocacy lobbying organization.^[1] He publicly crusaded against many pharmaceutical drugs, which he believed to be a danger to public health.

Wolfe was born in Cleveland, Ohio on June 12, 1937. His father was a workplace safety inspector for the Labor Department and his mother was an English teacher.^[2]

In 1959, he received a BA in chemical engineering from Cornell University. While working at a summer job, he received first degree burns from hydrofluoric acid that made him decide not to pursue chemistry as a career. In 1965, he received a medical degree from Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University). He trained under pediatrician Benjamin Spock.^[2]

After earning his medical degree at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, Wolfe completed an internship and residency in internal medicine.^[3] Beginning in 1966, he researched blood-clotting and alcoholism at the National Institutes of Health.^[4] He met consumer advocate Ralph Nader in Washington, D.C. at a meeting of the American Patients Association, and advised Nader on health problems in the United States.^[3] Wolfe co-founded the consumer lobbying organization Health Research Group with Nader in 1971. In March 1971, Wolfe heard about bacterial contamination of intravenous fluid bags made by Abbott Laboratories. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), had recommended to continue use of "unless the patient developed an infection". After ensuring that a product recall would not cause a shortage Wolfe and Nader wrote a letter to the FDA demanding such a recall^[5] and released this letter to the news media. Two million bags were recalled two days later.^[6][7]

For more than 30 years, Wolfe campaigned to have propoxyphene (Darvon, Darvocet) removed from the American market, because it can cause heart arrhythmias. In 2009, an FDA advisory panel recommended that it be withdrawn from the market.^[8] The recommendation to ban the drug was ultimately not upheld and instead manufacturers were required to place additional warning labels on packaging. In 2009, Wolfe was appointed to the FDA's Drug Safety and Risk Management Committee.^[9] On November 19, 2010, the FDA recommended against continued prescribing and use of propoxyphene.^[10]

Other drugs that Wolfe has campaigned against include Yaz, Yasmin,^[11] phenacetin, Oraflex, Zomax, Vioxx,^[12] and Crestor.^[13]

In 1995, he became an Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.^[4]

From 2008 to 2012, he was a member of the FDA's Drug Safety and Risk Management Committee.^[4]

Wolfe was interviewed on television by Phil Donahue, Barbara Walters, Bill Moyers,^[3] and Oprah Winfrey, and wrote for the Huffington Post.^[14] He was the editor of Health Letter, published since 1985, and Worst Pills Best Pills News, published since 1995.^[15]

Wolfe was a member of the Society of General Internal Medicine and the American Public Health Association.^[15] He retired from his position as director of the Health Research Group in 2013,^[4] He continued in the role of senior adviser until his death.^[16]

• MacArthur Fellows Program (1990)^[17]

Wolfe was first married to Ava Albert. Together they had four children. The marriage ended in divorce. In 1978, he married Suzanne Goldberg, a clinical psychologist and artist.^[2]

Wolfe died of a brain tumor on January 1, 2024, at the age of 86.^[2]