Duke U. Suspends Associate Professor Over Claimed Rhodes Scholarship

Duke University has suspended an associate professor of medicine after learning that he falsely claimed to be a Rhodes scholar, reports The New York Times. The professor, Anil Potti, a cancer-genomics researcher, listed the prestigious scholarship in an application for a research grant from the American Cancer Society. The Cancer Letter reported last week that the Rhodes Trust, which manages the scholarship, had no record of his being a recipient. Duke has also halted patient enrollment in three cancer studies based on models Dr. Potti developed, which have drawn criticism from more than two dozen biostatisticians and researchers, who signed a letter to the National Cancer Institute recommending an end to the studies, according to the News and Observer. Dr. Potti, who did not respond to a message from the newspaper seeking comment, is on administrative leave from the university.