Posted on 07/01/2006 5:38:29 PM PDT by anymouse
BURLINGTON, Vt. --A former University of Vermont College of Medicine professor was ordered Wednesday to serve a year and a day in federal prison for using false data to obtain federal research grants.
Eric Poehlman, 50, who left UVM in 2001 for the University of Montreal and was fired from there amid revelations about his scientific misconduct, will serve the sentence at a federal prison work camp in Maryland.
An official with the National Institutes of Health said Poehlman's case marked the first time a researcher would serve time in prison for falsifying data to obtain federal grants.
(snap)
Poehlman, a specialist in exercise physiology, changed and made up research in applications and papers on the effect of menopause on women's metabolism, the impact of aging on older men and women, the impact of hormone replacement therapy on obesity in post-menopausal women, the study of metabolism in Alzheimer's patients and the effect of endurance training on metabolism.
In an agreement with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty in connection with one $542,000 grant; the government said he defrauded federal agencies out of $2.9 million.
(snip)
During that time, according to the to the federal Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Research Integrity, Poehlman falsified "preliminary studies" as justifications for further research in applications for 17 grants totaling $11.6 million.
"While many of the grant applications were not awarded, NIH and USDA expended approximately $2.9 million in research funding based on grant applications with false and fabricated research data," says the Office of Research Integrity's Web site.
Poehlman will be permanently barred from getting more federal research grants, and was ordered to write letters of retraction and correction to several scientific journals.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Put Churchill in the same cell.
Well, they caught him, but it's not that easy: one could assume that the applicant's grant submission would make sense to the professionals in the granting agencies, would not make outrageous claims, and otherwise would not raise brows. Writing grant proposals is a skill, and as such is learnable. They got him for bogus data [he left his guard down, or maybe a whistleblower helped], but they could not be required to replicate all his preliminary data first, and decide on grant application only later - to pay such checkers would double the budget.
using false data
the data is false but the conclusions are correct, right Dan?
-Poehlman, a specialist in exercise physiology, changed and made up research in applications and papers on the effect of menopause on women's metabolism, the impact of aging on older men and women, the impact of hormone replacement therapy on obesity in post-menopausal women, the study of metabolism in Alzheimer's patients and the effect of endurance training on metabolism.-
I can sum up this whole wad very quickly:
As I get older, it's harder to stay in shape. I'm more mentally tired, and my body's getting tired, too, but I eat the same amount of chocolate as if I was still twenty. Nothing you can do will change the fact I'm getting older. I'm old enough to take a rest now and then without some health cheerleader telling me I need to get off my butt. WHERE'S MY GRANT MONEY??
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