Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Study data at UCLA falsified

Los Angeles Times: By Jia-Rui Chong
A UCLA research associate tampered with data in a study of drug users and stole money intended for study subjects, a federal oversight office said Monday.

According to a notice in the Federal Register, James David Lieber, staff research associate at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, 'knowingly and intentionally falsified and fabricated' interviews, urine samples and urine sample records.

The project, which received funding from the National Institutes of Health, was led by Christine Grella, a UCLA research psychologist.

The study looked at what happened to female opiate addicts who had visited methadone clinics in Central and Southern California counties in the late 1970s.

'This is something we're quite unhappy about, obviously,' Grella said of the notice. ...

UCLA learned of the misconduct allegations in early 2006 and convened a panel to review his work, said Roberto Peccei, vice chancellor of research. Peccei said researchers removed the compromised data from the study and continued with their work. Lieber was discharged from the university.

"Ensuring the integrity of research conducted at UCLA is a duty of paramount importance, and this incident is a reminder that we must remain vigilant in fulfilling that obligation," Peccei said in a statement.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I was appalled to read about this one myself. My post today at DifferenceBlog discusses the implications and causes of research misconduct, especially in psychological research, where the general population often already holds preconceived notions about the topic of study.