The Office of Research Integrity of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has notified the University of Alabama at Birmingham that two former UAB employees have been debarred by the federal government from eligibility to receive any federal funds, including for grants and contracts. One former employee was debarred for a 10-year period beginning May 5, 2009; the other for a three-year period beginning June 17, 2009.
The disciplinary actions come as a result of scientific misconduct related to research conducted prior to 2006, and come after a comprehensive internal investigation by UAB. UAB’s investigation resulted in findings of scientific misconduct by these two individuals. Per its policy, the ORI subsequently conducted its own investigation.
In its investigation, UAB found that the actions of the former employees violated the university’s Policy Concerning the Maintenance of High Ethical Standards in Research and Other Scholarly Activities. As a result, the university has worked with the scientific community to fully or partially retract 14 published papers related to the research.
“Such behavior is absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated at UAB. We take our commitment to ethics very seriously, and our first priority is to maintain the integrity of scientific data,” said UAB Scientific Integrity Officer Richard B. Marchase, Ph.D., vice president for Research and Economic Development.
