The Darsee Case Duquesne University Undergraduate Research Program Ethics Forum Lisa Clark, Zachary Cutia, Sadie Clifford, Anderson Chen, Lauren Ciccariello

Introduction Fraud – a major issue in society Impacts on: research of other working scientists, reliability of the published literature, public attitudes Authority can influence credibility of fraudulent behavior Eminent investigator Prestigious institution Prominent grant agency Highly respected journal

John Darsee- Background Undergraduate from Notre Dame Medical degree from Indiana University Clinical & research work at Emory – Worked for Eugene Braunwald at the Brigham and Women’s and Beth Israel Hospitals

The Case May Darsee was working for an NIH-funded project: ischaemic myocardium study on animals Fraudulent behavior - Labeled experiments with durations of 24 seconds, 72 hours, one week, and two weeks… when only minutes had passed Clashing evidence - Duke and Johns Hopkins Universities, and the VA Medical Center – different data than Darsee

Investigation A committee of eight Harvard faculty members, as well as an NIH committee, investigated The Harvard committee found substantial evidence of data fabrication NIH looked into his other publications Systematic falsification of data in five other studies

Outcomes Several of Darsee’s publications were retracted NIH demanded $122,371 grant returned from Harvard Barred from NIH funds for ten years

Reasons for Fabricating Data Publish or perish Stress/Pressure Maintain academic achievements Job promotion Meeting expectations High admiration for Dr. Braunwald Experiments not working Personal issues Death of his father

What John Darsee Breached Trust Colleagues Institution Scientific Community (peers, journals, funding agencies) Society Physician’s Oath Serving as a role model

Consequences Faulty data impeded scientific discovery Potential harm to patients Essentially wasted grant funds

Who is Responsible? Can’t we all agree that the author is responsible for fabricated data? But what about Coauthors? If they don’t fulfill their obligations are they guilty too?

Coauthors "While not all coauthors may be familiar with all aspects of the research presented in their paper, all collaborations should have in place an appropriate process for reviewing and ensuring the accuracy and validity of the reported results, and all coauthors should be aware of this process.” But should this really just let them off the leash? American Physical Society. “Ethics and Values 02.2 APS GUIDELINES FOR PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT.” APS 2002.

Editor flow chart for suspected fabricated data Wager, Liz. What to do if you suspect fabricated data (b) suspected fabricated data in a published article. Flow Chart. Committee on Publication Ethics. May June 2013.

Summary What leads to fabrication of data and results? Intense atmosphere Limited mentoring by senior scientists Expectations Applying for and receiving grants History

Summary What is the correct protocol for handling fabrication cases? Who’s job is it to report fabrication? Where do you report funding cases? Who investigates? How are punishments determined?

Summary Darsee was found guilty of fabricating data in publications spanning 14 years Harvard was asked to return grant money to NIH Fellowship was terminated Banned from NIH grant funding for 10 years

References Kochan, Carol Ann, and John M. Budd. "The persistence of fraud in the literature: the Darsee case." JASIS 43.7 (1992): Altman, Larry, and Laurie Melcher. "Fraud in science." British medical journal (Clinical research ed.) (1983): American Physical Society. “Ethics and Values 02.2 APS GUIDELINES FOR PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT.” APS Wager, Liz. What to do if you suspect fabricated data (b) suspected fabricated data in a published article. Flow Chart. Committee on Publication Ethics. May June revised.pdf

References Wallis, C., Wymelenberg, S. & Shapiro, R. (1983, 2 28). Medicine: Fraud in a harvard lab. Time magazine, Retrieved from ml [ In analyses of dr. john darsee's dishonest behavio... ]. (1983, Apr 02). Boston Globe (Pre-1997 Fulltext). Retrieved from om/docview/ ?accountid=40240 Broad, W. J. (1983, Jun 14). Notorious darsee case shakes assumptions about science. New York Times. Retrieved from om/docview/ ?accountid=40240