*This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated. 1993.06.17 : Research Integrity Public Health Service Thursday, June 17, 1993 Press Office (202) 690-6867 The U.S. Public Health Service's Office of Research Integrity announced today that it will publish information about closed cases of confirmed misconduct in the Federal Register. Information on such cases has previously been available by request. But ORI Acting Director Lyle W. Bivens said, "Affirmative steps should be taken to make these cases known, both for public health purposes and to serve an educational and deterrent purpose." Since its formation in May 1992, ORI has debarred from federal research grants or otherwise restricted 14 researchers in cases involving three incidents of plagiarism and 11 incidents of falsified research. These cases will be described in an initial Federal Register notice. Future notices will be published individually as cases are closed. "As rare as misconduct may be, it must be vigorously pursued and effectively dealt with where it is proven," Bivens said. "The notices will help correct the scientific literature as well as serving to deter scientific misconduct." The initial 14 cases involved research in such areas as AIDS, brain tumors and cocaine use. Some were published in major scientific journals and were subsequently retracted. The ORI has prohibited the researchers from receiving federal grants or contracts or imposed restrictions and conditions on future - More - - 2 - PHS-supported research conducted by them. In many cases, the researchers were prohibited from serving on PHS advisory committees. The PHS Office of Research Integrity was created a year ago to replace a similar activity at the National Institutes of Health. The office is responsible for investigating charges of scientific misconduct in all of the PHS health research agencies, including NIH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. The responsibility also covers laboratories directly operated by the agencies as well as recipients of PHS grants or contracts at universities and hospitals here and abroad. In the first Federal Register notice, ORI identifies researchers who worked at the National Institutes of Health, the University of California at San Francisco, St. Luc Hospital in Montreal, Harvard Medical School, the University of Houston and elsewhere. In most cases, the allegation of misconduct was initially reviewed by the school or institute involved. The Office of Research Integrity announced nine debarments from federal grants and contracts. The researchers are: -- James H. Freisheim, former chairman of the department of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Medical College of Ohio, who was found by the university to have submitted a research grant application to NIH that he had plagiarized from another scientist's grant application -- one he himself reviewed for NIH. ORI debarred him for three years and placed other restrictions on him for 10 years. -- Paul F. Langlois, former post-doctoral fellow at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, found to have presented computer printouts and graphs for which primary data did not exist. Langlois appealed a PHS-recommended disbarment but it was upheld by the HHS Departmental Appeals Board. The debarment is for three years. - More - - 3 - -- Tian-Shing Lee, former post-doctoral fellow at Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, found by Harvard to have presented data for cell counts that were never performed. ORI concurred and debarred him from grants or contracts for five years. -- Anthony A. Paparo, former professor at Southern Illinois University, found to have falsified micrographs and radioisotope data in work supported by NIH. He was debarred for three years. -- Roger Poisson, M.D., at St. Luc Hospital, Montreal, found by ORI to have fabricated and falsified tests and dates of procedures in 115 instances from 1977 to 1990. He was debarred for eight years. -- Sheela Ramasubban, former master's degree student at the University of Houston, found by the university to have fabricated data on the biochemical basis of rhythmic behaviors in work supported by the National Institute of Mental Health. She admitted altering data and was debarred from receiving grants and contracts for three years. -- Mitchell H. Rosner, a former Howard Hughes Medical Institute-NIH research scholar in residence at the National Cancer Institute, found to have diluted control samples to affect a result in studies of embryonic development in mice. The researcher admitted the misconduct and signed an agreement not to seek grants or contracts for five years. -- Craig T. Shelley, former resident in neurosurgery at the University of Tennessee at Memphis and a former fellow at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Bethesda, admitted to altering an autoradiographic slide. He was debarred for three years. -- Raphael B. Stricker, former assistant professor at the University of California at San Francisco, found by the university to have reported AIDS research findings of an antibody in 29 of 30 homosexuals but not in non-homosexuals, suppressing data showing the antibody in 33 of 65 non-homosexuals. Stricker retracted a study in the New England Journal of Medicine and agreed not to apply for federal grant or contract funds for three years. The PHS Office of Research Integrity placed restrictions short of debarment in these cases: -- Judy Guffee, a former technician at the University of Miami, who was found to have falsified the labeling of solutions to cover up a failure to produce large quantities of polyclonal antiserum. ORI required that her work be certified for a five-year period. - More - - 4 - -- Raymond J. Ivatt, formerly of Cetus Corporation of Emeryville, Calif., found by the corporation to have falsified progress in a research project grant supported by NIH. ORI required that any future application, proposal or report be certified for accuracy by the organization sponsoring it. -- Mark M. Kowalski, former postdoctoral fellow at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard University, found by the institute to have plagiarized a complete grant application and submitted it to NIH. The ORI said any further applications must be certified by his organization. He has been prohibited for a three- year period from serving on PHS advisory committees, boards and review groups. -- Leo A. Paquette, professor at Ohio State University, found by the university to have submitted a grant application plagiarized from another scientist's grant application which Paquette had received in confidence as a peer reviewer for NIH. Paquette accepted full responsibility but said the inclusion of the other scientist's text was inadvertent. Future work must be certified and he is barred from PHS committees, boards and review groups for 10 years. -- Michael A. Sherer, former resident and research fellow at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, found to have falsified data and required to retract a published study on cocaine. ORI required certification of any future work from him and prohibited him from serving on PHS agency committees, boards and review groups. These actions are effective for a three-year period. "The universities, the agencies and the institutes have been alert and cooperative," Bivens said. "I think that's because we know -- whether we're scientists, consumers, physicians, scholars or patients -- that we are all losers when the integrity of health research is called into question. "This Public Health Service office will continue to investigate scientific misconduct and will work with other scientific groups to prevent it by making sure all researchers working with federal dollars conduct and report their research in a responsible manner." ###