You can go to our
Newsletters.
Or search for a word here:
Allegations of Scientific Misconduct: Lessons from a Real Case
By Dinah Bodkin
DBodkin614@aol.com
My scientific misconduct case dates from December 1995. The principals are the
three people who, at the time, comprised the Bauer laboratory at the West Roxbury
Veterans Administration Medical Center (WVAMC) in West Roxbury, Massachusetts.
The case dates back to my awareness of data falsification on the part of my
coworker, Dr. Arnaldo Arbini, and acquiescence on the part of our supervisor, Dr.
Kenneth Bauer. A written complaint to the Office of the Dean of Harvard Medical
School led to a formal scientific misconduct investigation on December 22, 1995. I
was terminated from my position at the WVAMC immediately after the
disclosures.
When the Harvard investigation began, I examined the materials supporting the
publication in question. There was not a single notebook entry for 6 out of the 7
published figures. A significant amount of experimental output, i.e., autoradiograms,
computer printouts, and photographs was also missing. In a letter to me dated
October 25, 1996, Harvard cleared the individuals in the case, ruling that "in the
absence of primary data, it was not possible to ascertain whether the experiments
had been done as described in the paper and, therefore, since a finding of miscon-
duct must be based on a preponderance of the evidence there was not a finding of
scientific misconduct." Dr. Bauer was cleared of having terminated me as a
retaliatory measure. In compensation for my efforts, Harvard offered me
"career counseling."
I provided Senator John Kerry and Congressman Barney Frank with key documents
from the case and, at the suggestion of Barney Frank, solicited the support of the
independent watchdog group, Project on Government Oversight. The efforts of these
three parties resulted in a second scientific misconduct investigation; this one
coordinated by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
My father, a retired chemist, put me in touch with Dr. Racquel Diaz-Sprague, who
was a member of the board of directors of the Association for Women in Science.
Thanks to her efforts, the AWIS was prevailed upon to take up the case. Anne Briscoe,
the director of its Affirmative Action Committee, wrote a letter to the institutional
parties, in particular unleashing considerable fury at Harvard.
Senator Kerry wrote to Briscoe, saying that he sympathized with the sentiments
expressed in her letter. In July of 1997, Senator Arlen Specter, Chairman of the
Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, wrote a strongly worded letter to supporters
of mine in Pennsylvania about the case.
When the VA committee failed to overturn Harvard's ruling, I again appealed
to the Association for Women in Science. Its president Helen Davies, resides in
Pennsylvania, and she promised to remind Senator Specter of his commitment to the
case. Both she and Anne Briscoe vowed that I would not be forgotten. But as far as I
know Dr. Davies' letter never materialized.
Senator John Kerry continued to fight, but his efforts ran afoul of both the Senate
Committee on Veterans Affairs and the Department of Veterans Affairs. He ceased his
support of the case in May of 1999.
On September 30, 1999, Dr. Racquel Diaz-Sprague, writing on behalf on the
Association for Women in Science in Central Ohio, wrote to Senator Kerry, urging his
renewed involvement. Her and others' letters have gone unanswered.
There is little question that the public support I received, in particular that of the
AWIS, was critical in generating interest from key politicians. But the "take home
lesson" is discouraging at best.
History of AWIS
AWIS is dedicated to the achievement of equity and the full participation of women in
all areas of science and technology. Sylvia Braselmann's Reluctant Rebels:
Women Scientists Organizing, a 19-page article about the history of AWIS and its
East Bay chapter, is posted at the web site of that chapter: http://www.ebawis.org. To find
Braselmann's article, go to the Main Menu page.
The article is in PDF file format, you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to open it.
If you need it, the application is free and available at:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html.
-wage@wage.org-