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"Some college administrators seem so distracted with fund raising, academic infighting, and community initiatives that they set up their emergency communications departments very poorly. Training is poor to nonexistent, secretaries are pressed into service with tremendous responsibilities for running 'notification systems' 24/7 and on weekends because no one else knows how to do it and the administration won’t pay for additional staff. Procedures are seat-of-the-pants and dependent on HIPPO (highest paid person’s opinion), except when something like Virginia Tech happens and there is some sort of scramble to do something different." --Donna
Most Colleges Avoid Risk Management, Report Says
Jill Biden Shines a Global Spotlight on American Community Colleges
Speaking at a Unesco conference in Paris, the vice president’s wife stressed the importance of two-year institutions to the nation’s educational goals.
Connecticut Public Colleges Lose 200 Professors to Early Retirement
Administrators are scrambling to plug holes in their course schedules for fall, with most expecting to do so by hiring more adjuncts or increasing class sizes.
U. of Georgia Paid 2 Fraternities $2.4-Million to Relocate, Contracts Show
The two were among five with houses on property where the university plans to build new academic facilities.
New Allegations in Admissions Controversy at U. of Illinois Suggest Ex-Provost Played a Role
Linda P.B. Katehi, the incoming chancellor of the University of California at Davis, has insisted she knew nothing of the admission of politically connected applicants at Illinois.
Sonoma State U. Foundation May Lose $350,000 on Loan to Former Board Member
The foundation will be forced to issue fewer scholarships in the 2010-11 academic year because of a diminished endowment, a university official said.
College Suspends Student for Working in Gay Pornography | 58
President Obama's Visit to Notre Dame Carries Barely a Hint of Controversy That Preceded It | 58
Drug Sting Nabs 21 Students at U. of Illinois | 57
Faculty Members and Union Protest Staff Layoffs at Temple U. as 'Cruel' | 57
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October 4, 2008
Emory U. Psychiatrist Failed to Report Income From Drug Makers
A prominent psychiatrist at Emory University is the latest researcher to come under fire in Congress for violating federal and university rules against financial conflicts of interest.
The New York Times reports that Charles B. Nemeroff, chairman of the psychiatry department at Emory and former editor in chief of the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, earned more than $2.8-million for consulting with drug companies from 2000 to 2007 and hid much of that income from his university.The figures were disclosed in documents provided to Congressional investigators working for Sen. Charles E. Grassley, a Republican of Iowa, as part of his continuing inquiry into scientists’ financial conflicts of interest.
Late Friday, Emory announced that Dr. Nemeroff had voluntarily stepped down as department chairman, pending the resolution of the controversy. Dr. Nemeroff was quoted in the Emory statement as saying that “to the best of my knowledge, I have followed the appropriate university regulations concerning financial disclosures.”
“I will cooperate fully and work with Emory to respond to the alleged conflicts of interest issues raised by Senator Grassley and his staff,” the statement said.
In June, Senator Grassley reported to Congress that three Harvard University psychiatrists — Joseph Biederman, Timothy E. Wilens, and Thomas Spencer — had underreported the money they had earned from drug companies.
In July, Alan F. Schatzberg, a Stanford University researcher, stepped down as principal investigator on his grant from a division of the National Institutes of Health after Senator Grassley pointed to an apparent conflict of interest with a drug company that Dr. Schatzberg had helped create.
The findings regarding Dr. Nemeroff’s conduct suggest it was more flagrant. In one instance, Dr. Nemeroff was the lead investigator for a $3.9-million project financed by that NIH division, the National Institutes of Mental Health, for which the company GlaxoSmithKline provided drugs.
Although agency rules forbade him as principal investigator to earn more than $10,000 per year from the company, Dr. Nemeroff crossed that threshold in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, but lied about it to Emory, according to the Times.
The university would have been required to inform the NIH and either manage the conflict or remove Dr. Nemeroff as principal investigator.
According to the Times, Emory conducted its own investigation of Dr. Nemeroff in 2004 and found many “serious” and “significant” violations of university procedures meant to protect patients. But the university took no action other than telling the researcher to change his ways.
Senator Grassley has sponsored a bill called the Physician Payment Sunshine Act that would force drug and medical-device companies to list any payments of more than $500 to doctors.
In an interview in July with The Chronicle, Senator Grassley said aggressive moves by the NIH to pull grants from university scientists who failed to report conflicts of interest would forestall legislative action. —Jennifer Ruark
Posted on Saturday October 4, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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This is a terrible tragedy for up and coming interns who make ethics a hallmark of their program. Greed is rampant in every sector of society but academia knows no bounds as we have learned from our own involvement in planetary science.
http://www.bccmeteorites.com/misconduct-planetary.html
— S. Ray DeRusse Oct 4, 05:47 PM #
Looks like we’ll be in for another round of punish the innocent for the sins of the few. If we add enough layers of bureaucracy on researchers and make science even more unappealing as a profession we won’t have to worry about conflicts of interests anymore because no one will be doing research. If a PI cheats, punish the bum, but don’t build another industry around trying to keep it from happening again. The good guys don’t need more rules and there are no number of rules that will keep the bad guys from cheating. It’s also comforting to know that Congress is watching out for evil professors who might sell their soul for $10,000 per year. Just think, if they hadn’t been so busy investigating university faculty they might have had time to give oversight to all their buddies on Wall Street who were walking away with billions.
— Robert Killoren Oct 6, 08:18 AM #