U.S. Medical Research Agency Fires Dozens of Scientists with Financial Ties to China
June 16, 2020 | Judicial Watch
Dozens of scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. government’s handsomely funded medical research agency, have been fired over their secret financial ties to Communist China.
It is not clear how long they went undetected or how much taxpayer-funded research they stole, but so far 54 scientists have been booted for failing to disclose a troubling financial arrangement with a foreign government. In the overwhelming majority of cases—93%—the cash came from China, according to an ongoing NIH investigation that started two years ago. Also, in most of the probes the targets were Asian men in their 50s. The bulk of the ousted researchers received generous grants from the NIH, a federal agency with a $41.7 billion annual budget.
The probe, launched in the summer of 2018, is being conducted by Dr. Michael S. Lauer, Deputy Director for Extramural Research at the NIH. It mainly focuses on 285 active grants distributed to institutions in 27 states and 59 cities, totaling $164 million. Investigators singled out 399 “scientists of possible concern” and found that 133 (70%) had an “undisclosed grant” from a foreign government and 102 (54%) had an “undisclosed talents award.” More than 150 committed other NIH violations. Nine percent of the researchers concealed ties to a foreign company and 4% had an undisclosed foreign patent.
Around three quarters of those investigated had active NIH grants and almost half of the scientists had at least two grants funded by American taxpayers.
https://www.judicialwatch.org/corruption-chronicles/u-s-medical-research-agency-fires-dozens-of-scientists-with-financial-ties-to-china