[BreachExchange] MD Anderson ousts 3 researchers over Chinese data theft concerns

[Destry Winant]

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/md-anderson-ousts-3-researchers-over-chinese-data-theft-concerns.html

MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston has moved to fire three
scientists accused of sharing important research findings and data
with China, according to The Houston Chronicle.

MD Anderson began an internal investigation last year after receiving
emails from the National Institutes of Health, which alerted the
cancer center that five NIH-funded faculty members had violated agency
rules tied to the confidentiality of peer review and disclosure of
foreign ties.

Of the five staff members investigated, MD Anderson will cut ties with
three. All three of them were tenured faculty members, but their names
were not released. Two of the three resigned before being fired, while
the termination process against the other scientist has been
initiated.

Officials determined termination wasn't warranted for one of the
professors, and they are still investigating the fifth, according to
the report.

MD Anderson said in a statement to The Chronicle that an in-depth
investigation found "violations of NIH and MD Anderson rules and
policies" which "led to the initiation of termination processes for
three tenured faculty members."

The departures are the first publicly disclosed since the NIH directed
some institutions to investigate specific professors who may have been
violating agency policies last August. About 55 universities have
launched investigations in response to the NIH's concerns, according
to the report.

In particular, the NIH has expressed concern about foreign threats to
the integrity of NIH-funded research, including the diversion of
property, the sharing of confidential information by NIH peer
reviewers with foreign countries and failure to disclose payments from
other organizations, including foreign governments.