November 21, 2003

Lawmakers Examine the Possibility of Favoritism in a $40-Million NIH Contract With Harvard

By JEFFREY BRAINARD

A congressional committee has said that a former top official of the National Institutes of Health may have improperly steered a $40-million contract to Harvard University, in part because of his connections with a Harvard researcher.

In addition, the official, Richard D. Klausner, interviewed for the presidency of Harvard in the fall of 2000, just as the National Cancer Institute, which he directed at the time, was developing plans to solicit proposals for the contract, according to