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Recent Events in Research Compliance and Misconduct

Recent Events in Research Compliance and Misconduct. HMS Open Forum. Office of Academic and Research Integrity Harvard Medical School December 8, 2017. OVERVIEW. Dr. Yiheng Percival Zhang Professor of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech

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Recent Events in Research Compliance and Misconduct

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  1. Recent Events in Research Compliance and Misconduct HMS Open Forum Office of Academic and Research Integrity Harvard Medical School December 8, 2017

  2. OVERVIEW Dr. Yiheng Percival Zhang Professor of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech Founder/Chief Science Officer of a start-up called Cell-Free Bioinnovations (CFB) PI at Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology in China

  3. THE DETAILS • To fund CFB he applied for 2 grants funded by NSF and DOE • Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) • Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) • Total Federal Funding to CFB (SBIR/STTR) since February 2013 = over $1.1 million • STTR requires a partnership between the small business and a collaborating research institution (CRI) • CRI must receive 30% of award funds and complete 30% of the research

  4. ALLEGATIONS SBIR (NSF) April 2014-March 2016 • Applied for funding for work that was already completed in China • Unable to provide required time and effort reporting sheets • Falsified Milestone Report • CFB VP of marketing paid off grant

  5. ALLEGATIONS STTR (DOE) February 2015 – November 2015 • Virginia Tech (the CRI) only paid 18% of award funding, rather than required 30% • Award total of $149,265; VT paid only $27,311 • VT had records of unpaid invoices

  6. CONSEQUENCES Dr. Zhang arrested in September 2017 Charged with wired fraud, criminal false claims and false statements Trial will begin in 2018

  7. LESSONS LEARNED • Thoughts? • What can we apply to our work here?

  8. OVERVIEW Dr. Alexander Neumeister Professor of Psychology at NYU School of Medicine Mental health research Specialized in neurological disorders, specifically PTSD

  9. THE DETAILS • From 2012-2014 employed by NYU Med School as a PI • Funded research through National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) • Provided with a P-card from the school for study related expenses

  10. ALLEGATIONS • Used $9000 in government funds to pay for 8 round trip flights from NYC to Salt Lake City to visit a “friend” • $4300 for a nine day, all expense paid trip to Miami for his “friend” • Claimed “friend” as a research study participant and paid “friend” $10K of school’s money • Purchased an iPhone for a friend • Airline ticket from NJ to Vienna for his spouse to attend a family event • And more!

  11. CONSEQUENCES • Arrested on November 21, 2017 • One count theft of government funds • One count wire fraud • Max sentence of 20 years in prison • Civil suit filed under the False Claims Act on November 28, 2017

  12. LESSONS LEARNED • Could this happen here? • How can we prevent? • Thoughts?

  13. CLOSER TO HOME Other examples • Northeastern repaid $2.7m in 2015 • BWH agreed to repay $10m this year What patterns have we seen? • Scofflaws can’t eat just one • Perverse incentives + poor data management = permissive environment and a slippery slope

  14. WHAT CAN WE DO? Identify allies • Example: people concerned with reproducibility • Common ground: data management Identify initiatives and precedents • Journals are starting to require deposition of all raw data and code at the time of submission • Could we?

  15. Thank you

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