Healthy Skepticism Library item: 17463

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Publication type: news

Pereira J
Emory Professor Steps Down
The Wall Street Journal 2008 Dec 23
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123000405102929417.html

Full text:

Charles Nemeroff, a prominent researcher in clinical depression, has agreed to step down from his long-time position as chairman of Emory University’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, following an investigation by the university into allegations of possible conflicts of interests by the medical professor.

In a statement issued late Monday evening, the Atlanta-based university said the investigation showed Dr. Nemeroff failed to report to Emory more than $800,000 he received in income from drug maker GlaxoSmithKline.

The money was for more than 250 speaking engagements from Jan. 2000 to Jan. 2006, the investigation uncovered. The university, as a matter of policy, requires that its faculty members disclose all such speaking engagement fees, Ron Sauder, a university spokesman said. The investigation was conducted jointly by the university and its school of medicine.

In a statement Dr. Nemeroff said, “I regret the failure of full disclosure on my part that has led to the current situation,” adding that he believed he was “acting in good faith to comply with the rules as I understood them to be in effect at the time.”

Dr. Nemeroff has contended that his lectures weren’t product-specific but were limited to general medical topics such as depression and bipolar disorder.

The university said, a review of his speaker slides and interviews with attendees at presentations, supports that contention. Dr. Nemeroff wasn’t available for further comment, Mr. Sauder said.

Emory also said it won’t submit any National Institutes of Health grant or contract requests in which Dr. Nemeroff is listed as an investigator for two years.

Dr. Nemeroff, who had been head of the university’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences for 17 years, will remain at the university as a professor.

The investigation was triggered by allegations by Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who had been probing ties between academic researchers and the medical industry.

Dr. Nemeroff doesn’t have to return the money.

“It was money he had rightfully earned,” Mr. Sauder said.

Officials for GlaxoSmithKline couldn’t be reached to comment.