July 26, 2002

Cat Researcher Says Animal-Rights Activists Hounded Him Out of Academe; Kenyan Writer to Lead Center at U. of California at Irvine

By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET and PIPER FOGG

RESEARCHER STEALS AWAY: Michael Podell, an associate professor in the Colleges of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at Ohio State University whose research with cats made him a target of animal-rights groups, is clearing out his lab and heading into private practice -- though no one at Ohio State seems quite sure where.

Dr. Podell, 44, had a $1.7-million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to study the neurological and immunological effects of methamphetamine