Klausner investigated
The US House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, which brought down the university presidencies of Donald Kennedy and David Baltimore, have set their sights on Richard Klausner, former head of the National Cancer Institute (NCI; Bethesda, MD, USA) and now a director at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Seattle, WA, USA). At issue is a $40 million subcontract awarded by the NCI to Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, USA) in 2002 to set up a molecular targeting laboratory under Stu Schreiber. The subcommittee is investigating whether Klausner's application for a position at Harvard, friendship with Schreiber, and position as cofounder of Infinity Pharmaceuticals (which commercializes the Harvard research) represents a conflict and biased the decision to award the contract to Harvard. The subcommittee views this investigation as a case study into the NIH's process for awarding contracts and the power that institute directors have in determining the outcome. Dan Kevles, the Yale University (New Haven, CT, USA) science historian who wrote a book on the Baltimore case, says this is the committee's modus operandi—to pick an issue and “try to light a fire under it” by finding a good case to pursue. Klausner said he is “totally confident” that when the facts come out, the strength of the NIH's process will be revealed. LD
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