Are Taxpayers Paying for Research Fraud at Harvard Affiliate?
As Harvard suffers from the plagiarism scandal of its former president, a new scandal has emerged concerning fabricated medical research completed by Harvard professors at the Dana-Faber Cancer Institute (DFCI).
The excitement started on January 2, 2024, when science sleuth Sholto David Ph.D. posted this article on the Better Science blog, describing in great detail how four leading researchers at Dana-Farber have erroneous figures in 57 articles. In 24 of the studies that Mr. David reviewed, he found issues with the highest level of concern. The article was then picked up by the Harvard Crimson and subsequently came to the attention of Stat News, a health-oriented website affiliated with the Boston Globe. Monday morning, January 22, 2024, greeted the world with this update from the Harvard Crimson. The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is in the process of retracting 6 of the articles cited by Dr. David and is correcting 31 of the studies. DFCI claims that there were 38 of the 57 studies in which they were primarily responsible for the data errors. Of note the research integrity officer was involved in two of the studies himself.
Dr. David holds a doctorate in cell and molecular biology and uses AI tools as well as his own discerning skills to analyze articles, data, and images. He reports on commenting on over 2,000 articles on the site PubPeer, a website for posts regarding concerns with published papers.
The manipulation of the images includes images rotated or shifted as well as Western Blot images copied and pasted. Western Blot is a common technique to detect proteins in cells. Adding a Western Blot that was not found implies that a protein was present when it was really not discovered.
The four researchers are as follows:
Laurie H. Glimcher, MD President and CEO coauthor or 4 articles cited
William C. Hahn, MD, PhD, COO and VP coauthor in 17 articles cited
Irene Ghobrial, MD, Senior Vice President for Experimental Medicine coauthor of 14 articles cited
Kenneth Anderson MD, coauthor for 29 articles cited of the 29 articles, 7 articles were coauthored by Irene Ghobrial, MD
DFCI spokesperson Ellen Berlin said that potential issues with an image do not equal misconduct, which is an intentional effort to fabricate or falsify results. In other words, they could be honest mistakes and not constitute intentional acts. Of note, Barrett Rollins, the research integrity officer at DFCI, reports that all of the allegations reviewed so far are credible and warrant further investigation. Dr. Matthew Schrag, a Vanderbilt neurologist who has detected fraud in other studies, reports that Dr. David’s review of the articles seems credible. He feels that further investigation would be appropriate in light of the number and nature of the issues raised.
My concerns with this whole situation are as follows. DFIC and Harvard Medical School are at the top of the research mountain. The articles published there are placed in the most prestigious journals and are cited often. Some of the articles in question have been cited as many as 2,000–3,000 times. This means that any error in these articles can be magnified by other researchers using incorrect information for their studies. These articles are about cancer; we cannot afford to have erroneous results that would affect cancer discoveries.
Not only is there the concern of cancer research integrity but also the integrity of using public funds for research. It is imperative that we find out how much public money was used in this research, especially if it is found to be intentionally falsified. If that is the case then DFIC and Harvard need to reimburse taxpayers at the very least. Also, if follow-up research was done using falsified data then the cost of those studies should be reimbursed by DFIC/Harvard.
Falsified research in cancer could prevent advances in cancer care and could cost lives. If there is definite fraud the US Attorney should investigate to see if there is any criminal activity.
Where do we go from here? Numerous and very serious allegations of data manipulation have been made against DFCI a Harvard affiliate. Given the seriousness of the allegations and the careful nature of the analysis by Dr. David, I think the following steps are necessary.
1. Dr. Glimcher needs to resign immediately. The good name of DFCI and the integrity of the research must be maintained, and she has overseen far too many irregularities in research at the DFCI.
2. The other senior researchers must be placed on unpaid leave until a thorough investigation has been completed.
3. The investigation can NOT be an internal one. DFCI is tainted by this scandal and only an outside investigation can be trusted at this time. If Dr. David is willing, he should lead this investigation. He should be given access to complete data sets from the articles and the ability to pick his team.
4. The investigation should be transparent and shared publicly.
5. The total amount of public funds used for these studies should be made public.
6. After completion of the investigation, Dr. David should devise a protocol where the data can be reviewed with AI assistance prior to publication.
7. The investigation should be completed with all due speed and funded by DFCI-Harvard
Is there medical fraud at a Harvard affiliated at taxpayer expense? I do not know, but I do know that the allegations by Dr. David are very serious, and no stone should be left unturned to find this answer. It is ludicrous to believe that one man, Dr. David, can uncover reams of manipulated data working on his own, and yet DFCI-Harvard and the leading journals in the world are unable to ensure the integrity of the data. Taxpayers, Cancer victims and their families all deserve better than this!
