Project on Government Oversight (POGO) calls for Obama to remove Dr. Amy Gutmann from bioethics commission

VIA POGO-blog-Chair of Obama's Bioethics Commission Ignores Ghostwriting on Her Own Campus

By PAUL THACKER

"Yesterday, POGO sent a letter to President Obama asking that Dr. Amy Gutmann be removed as chair of the commission that advises the President on bioethics. We did so because Dr. Gutmann has ignored serious allegations of research misconduct regarding a senior professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is President.

If Dr. Gutmann cannot deal with bioethical concerns on her own campus, with her own faculty, then how can taxpayers trust her to advise the President of the United States? "

AND

"On Friday, a senior professor of psychiatry at Penn filed a complaint against Dr. Evans that includes allegations once again of potential ghostwriting in another study that favors GSK and Paxil. And because this study that Dr. Evans signed his name to was funded with taxpayer dollars, the complaint was sent to the federal government for investigation.

Until the University concludes a sincere and transparent investigation of these charges and takes decisive action to deter future ghostwriting, Dr. Gutmann should step aside as chair of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. This Commission advises President Obama on bioethics.

Dr. Gutmann’s bona fides on bioethics—to borrow a phrase from Penn’s own spokesperson—appear to be “unfounded.”

Students should really be pissed off that professors get away with this type of fraud when students receive steep penalties. What makes this all even more bizarre and insulting is that Dr. Evans is on the board of Penn’s Scattergood Program for the Applied Ethics of Behavioral Healthcare, a program dedicated to healthcare ethics." --Paul Thacker



Further reading

Paxil study under fire at Penn


Penn psychiatrist alleges misconduct by colleagues-Philly Enquirer

Pharmalot

Alison Bass-UPenn President is urged to resign as chair of Obama's bioethics commission for ignoring scientific misconduct allegations