NIH ethics investigation

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http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20030630/06

 

NIH ethics investigation

 

Cash gifts from grantees prompt congressional investigation of NIH officials |

By Ted Agres

 

 

Richard D. Klausner, former director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and

other current and former senior officials of the National Institutes of Health

(NIH) are being investigated by a congressional committee for possible

violations of federal criminal and ethics laws. The investigation centers on the

acceptance by Klausner and other officials of " lecture awards " and other cash

gifts from universities and research institutions that receive NCI and NIH

research grants.

 

In a June 26 letter, Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the House Energy and

Commerce Committee, and Rep. James Greenwood (R-Penn.), chairman of the

Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, ordered NIH Director Elias

Zerhouni to turn over numerous documents relating to " management and ethical

concerns at the agency " by July 11.

 

John Burklow, associate director for communications at NIH, said in a statement:

" We just received the letter. We are not aware of any ethics rules violations;

however, we will review the questions raised by the committee and respond in a

timely manner. "

 

Of particular interest to the committee is Klausner's receipt in 2000 of a $3000

cash award plus transportation and lodging expenses from the Arizona Cancer

Center, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer facility at the University of

Arizona Health Sciences Center in Tucson. Klausner was NCI director from 1995 to

2001.

 

In December 1999, the Arizona Cancer Center invited Klausner to give its annual

Waddell Award Lecture. Klausner accepted, and on January 13, 2000 he delivered a

lecture in Tucson on the future of cancer research. At the time of the award,

the Arizona Cancer Center received NCI grants in excess of $25 million and had

$486,000 in federal contracts, the committee stated.

 

Klausner signed a recusal statement disqualifying himself from participating in

matters involving the Arizona Cancer Center from December 15, 1999 until at

least January 15, 2000. He also certified that the " award is not being offered

by an entity that has interests… that may be substantially affected by the

performance or non-performance of the employee's official duties. "

 

The committee asked an attorney with the American Law Division of the

Congressional Research Service (CRS) to analyze the legal issues surrounding the

award, Tauzin and Greenwood wrote. The attorney concluded that the NCI director

is a presidential appointee and is prohibited by executive order from receiving

any outside earned income from the course of his appointment. " Thus, the NCI

director could not accept private payment as compensation or consideration for

giving a speech or lecture, " the CRS attorney concluded.

 

Furthermore, the NCI director and other high-ranking NCI officials are

prohibited under federal ethics regulations from receiving an honorarium from a

private source for a lecture that focused on cancer research funded by the NCI,

the attorney said.

 

Klausner's 1-year recusal also does not resolve conflict of interest problems

since it was for a limited, short period of time and did not prevent him from

making decisions in the future, " immediately after accepting the large cash

award, which may affect new grant applications [and] the renewal of existing

grants. "

 

Klausner is currently director of the global health program at the Bill &

Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle. A spokesman for the foundation did not

respond to a request for comment. Rob Raine, media relations coordinator for the

Arizona Cancer Center, said the Waddell Award is granted to acknowledge

expertise in cancer research. " There was no intention to influence any kind of

grants, " Raine told The Scientist. " In fact, it's impossible. The grant process

is a peer-reviewed process. "

 

Klausner's award from the Arizona Cancer Center is not the only such incident,

Tauzin and Greenwood stated. The following year, another senior NCI official

also received a Waddell Award and delivered a lecture on cancer research.

 

In 2000, Klausner also received the Daniel Nathans Memorial Award, a $4000 cash

prize from the Van Andel Research Institute in Michigan, the committee letter

stated in a footnote. In 1999, Klausner " apparently accepted " a $15,000 Block

Leadership Award from Ohio State University. That award was not included in

Klausner's public financial disclosure report for 1999, the letter stated.

 

The committee noted possible " systemic issues " in the award approval process at

NIH, including " self-certification of ethical requirements " as opposed to an

independent assessment by a federal ethics officer.

 

In launching a " broad examination of 'lecture awards' from NIH grantees received

by NIH officials, " the committee has instructed NIH to provide a list of all

lecture awards and prizes given to NIH employees by institutions since January

1, 1998 and specific information on the amounts and dates of all NIH grants

awarded to those institutions.

 

The lecture awards and cash gifts given to Klausner and other NCI officials

raise " precisely the ethics and conflict of interest concerns at which the

regulations and statutes on gifts and compensation from interested parties are

focused, " the CRS attorney concluded.

Links for this article

National Cancer Institute

http://www.nci.nih.gov/

 

National Institutes of Health

http://www.nih.gov/

 

" Tauzin, Greenwood Launch Ethics Investigation at NIH, The House Committee on

Energy and Commerce Correspondence, " June 26, 2003.

http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Letters/06262003_991.htm

 

Arizona Cancer Center

http://www.azcc.arizona.edu/

 

 

 

 

 

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