1. Recent Events in Research Compliance and Misconduct
HMS Open Forum
Office of Academic and Research Integrity
Harvard Medical School
December 8, 2017

2. OVERVIEW Dr. Yiheng Percival Zhang
Professor of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech
Founder/Chief Science Officer of a start-up called Cell-Free Bioinnovations (CFB)
PI at Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology in China

3. THE DETAILS To fund CFB he applied for 2 grants funded by NSF and DOE
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)
Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)
Total Federal Funding to CFB (SBIR/STTR) since February = over $1.1 million
STTR requires a partnership between the small business and a collaborating research institution (CRI)
CRI must receive 30% of award funds and complete 30% of the research
Both awards help to “facilitate the transfer of technology developed by a research institution through the entrepreneurship of a small business.”
STTR Mission and Program Goals (
The mission of the STTR program is to support scientific excellence and technological innovation through the investment of Federal research funds in critical American priorities to build a strong national economy.
The programs’ goals are to:
Stimulate technological innovation.
Foster technology transfer through cooperative R&D between small businesses and research institutions.
Increase private sector commercialization of innovations derived from federal R&D.

4. ALLEGATIONS SBIR (NSF) April 2014-March 2016
Applied for funding for work that was already completed in China
Unable to provide required time and effort reporting sheets
Falsified Milestone Report
CFB VP of marketing paid off grant
stating that a patent was already filed in China for scope of work described in proposal and if awarded they would use the funds for other work
Inconsistent time/effort reporting sheets provided in NSF report and in response to subpoena (used excuse that the scientist at CFB didn’t have an accounting background
Outstanding payment owed to Virginia Tech for subaward on project (this was reported as paid on the Final milestone report)
VP paid of grant, when he was never working on the project

5. ALLEGATIONS STTR (DOE) February 2015 – November 2015
Virginia Tech (the CRI) only paid 18% of award funding, rather than required 30%
Award total of $149,265; VT paid only $27,311
VT had records of unpaid invoices

6. CONSEQUENCES
Dr. Zhang arrested in September 2017 Charged with wired fraud, criminal false claims and false statements Trial will begin in 2018

7. LESSONS LEARNED
Thoughts?
What can we apply to our work here?

8. OVERVIEW Dr. Alexander Neumeister
Professor of Psychology at NYU School of Medicine
Mental health research
Specialized in neurological disorders, specifically PTSD

9. THE DETAILS From 2012-2014 employed by NYU Med School as a PI
Funded research through National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Provided with a P-card from the school for study related expenses
-School confronted Dr. Neumeister in 2015 after P-card audit about unusual charges, he said he would pay them back but never did

10. ALLEGATIONS
Used $9000 in government funds to pay for 8 round trip flights from NYC to Salt Lake City to visit a “friend”
$4300 for a nine day, all expense paid trip to Miami for his “friend”
Claimed “friend” as a research study participant and paid “friend” $10K of school’s money
Purchased an iPhone for a friend
Airline ticket from NJ to Vienna for his spouse to attend a family event
And more!
-“friend” identified as a professional ballet dancer
-expenses included food, beverage and beach facilities in Miami
-Dr. Neumeister is an Austrian citizen

11. CONSEQUENCES Arrested on November 21, 2017
One count theft of government funds
One count wire fraud
Max sentence of 20 years in prison
Civil suit filed under the False Claims Act on November 28, 2017

12. LESSONS LEARNED
Thoughts?
Could this happen here?
How can we prevent?

13. CLOSER TO HOME Other examples Northeastern repaid $2.7m in 2015
BWH agreed to repay $10m this year
What patterns have we seen?
Scofflaws can’t eat just one
Perverse incentives
+ poor data management
= permissive environment
and a slippery slope
Duke– combines misuse of funds and falsification of data.
Northeastern– misuse of funds
BWH– this was to resolve allegations that a BWH stem cell research laboratory run by Dr. Piero Anversa fraudulently obtained grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). BWH disclosed these allegations to the government.

14. WHAT CAN WE DO? Identify allies
Example: people concerned with reproducibility
Common ground: data management
Identify initiatives and precedents
Journals are starting to require deposition of all raw data and code at the time of submission
Could we?

15. Thank you