Eric Poehlman

Eric Poehlman

Eric Poehlman (born c. 1956), a scientist in the field of human obesity and aging, was the first academic in the United States to be jailed for falsifying data in a grant application.

He joined the University of Vermont (UVM) College of Medicine in 1987 as an assistant professor, later working for three years at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. He eventually returned to UVM as a full professor. Poehlman built a reputation as one of the leading authorities on the metabolic changes that come with aging, particularly during menopause; he published more than 200 journal articles over two decades of research. His papers included research on the genetics of obesity and the impact of exercise, often following human subjects over time to document changes in their physiology. However, his stellar career unravelled when Poehlman's misconduct was detected and exposed by a former University of Vermont lab technician, Walter DeNino, who once viewed Poehlman as his mentor. Poehlman was accused of scientific misconduct and on March 17 2005 pleaded guilty to the charges, acknowledging falsifying 17 grant applications to the National Institutes of Health and fabricating data in 10 of his papers that were submitted between 1992 and 2000.

On June 28 2006, Poehlman was ordered to serve a year and a day in federal prison for using falsified data in federal research grants that he submitted for funding. An official with the National Institutes of Health said that this was the first case where an academic research scientist was given prison time for falsifying data in grant submissions. In a plea bargain that he made with the prosecutors, Poehlman pleaded guilty with one $542,000 grant; the government prosecutors stated that Poehlman had defrauded agencies out of $2.9 million.

"Dr. Poehlman fraudulently diverted millions of dollars," said David V. Kirby, the US attorney for Vermont. "This in turn siphoned millions of dollars from the pool of resources available for valid scientific research proposals. As this prosecution proves, such conduct will not be tolerated."

Before imposing the sentence, Judge William Sessions III said "I generally think deterrence is significant, perhaps more so in this case. The scientific community may be watching." Sessions reprimanded Poehlman for his misconduct, saying he had "violated the public trust."

In addition to jail time, Poehlman will be permanently barred from getting more federal research grants, and was ordered by the court to write letters of retraction and correction to several scientific journals.

References

* Cite journal
author = Rex Dalton
title = Obesity expert owns up to million-dollar crime
journal = Nature
volume = 434
pages = 424
date = 2005 March 24
doi = 10.1038/434424a

* Cite news
url = http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/22/magazine/22sciencefraud.html
author = Jeneen Interlandi
title = An Unwelcome Discovery
publisher = New York Times
date = 2006-10-22
accessdate = 2006-10-23

External links

* [http://ori.dhhs.gov/misconduct/cases/press_release_poehlman.shtml Press Release - Dr. Eric T. Poehlman] by the United States Office of Research Integrity


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Walter DeNino — Walter F. DeNino is a medical student interested in the prevention and treatment of obesity. DeNino is also widely known as the student who brought the frauds of Eric Poehlman to light in 2004, when he (DeNino) filed allegations at the University …   Wikipedia

  • Pohlmann — is a surname and may refer to:*Eric Pohlmann, an Austrian actor and voice actor *Ingo Pohlmann, a German musician and song writer See also *Harry C. Pohlman Field *Robert von Pöhlmann, a German ancient historian *Eric Poehlman, scientist …   Wikipedia

  • Scientific misconduct — ] *Danish Definition: Intention(al) or gross negligence leading to fabrication of the scientific message or a false credit or emphasis given to a scientist *Swedish Definition: Intention(al) distortion of the research process by fabrication of… …   Wikipedia

  • List of whistleblowers — * Stanley Adams, a former Hoffmann LaRoche executive, who discovered evidence of price fixing in 1973. He passed the evidence to the European Economic Community, who erroneously leaked Adams name back to Hoffman LaRoche. Adams was arrested for… …   Wikipedia

  • Betrug und Fälschung in der Wissenschaft — sind unwahre Behauptungen oder gefälschte Messergebnisse, die vorsätzlich (Betrug) publiziert werden. Das Nicht Wahrhaben Wollen widersprüchlicher Messergebnisse und tendenziöse Berichterstattung sowie Weglassen von Ergebnissen stellen dagegen… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Fälschungsskandal — Betrug und Fälschung in der Wissenschaft sind unwahre Behauptungen oder gefälschte Messergebnisse, die vorsätzlich (Betrug) publiziert werden. Das Nicht Wahrhaben Wollen widersprüchlicher Messergebnisse und tendenziöse Berichterstattung sowie… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Wissenschaftliche Fälschung — Betrug und Fälschung in der Wissenschaft sind unwahre Behauptungen oder gefälschte Messergebnisse, die vorsätzlich (Betrug) publiziert werden. Das Nicht Wahrhaben Wollen widersprüchlicher Messergebnisse und tendenziöse Berichterstattung sowie… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Wissenschaftsbetrug — Betrug und Fälschung in der Wissenschaft sind unwahre Behauptungen oder gefälschte Messergebnisse, die vorsätzlich (Betrug) publiziert werden. Das Nicht Wahrhaben Wollen widersprüchlicher Messergebnisse und tendenziöse Berichterstattung sowie… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Wissenschaftsskandal — Betrug und Fälschung in der Wissenschaft sind unwahre Behauptungen oder gefälschte Messergebnisse, die vorsätzlich (Betrug) publiziert werden. Das Nicht Wahrhaben Wollen widersprüchlicher Messergebnisse und tendenziöse Berichterstattung sowie… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Implicit Association Test — The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is an experimental method within social psychology designed to measure the strength of automatic association between mental representations of objects (concepts) in memory. The IAT requires the rapid… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”