[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 31 (Tuesday, February 17, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7488-7489]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-3336]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary


Findings of Scientific Misconduct

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity 
(ORI) and the Acting Assistant Secretary for Health have taken final 
action in the following case:
    Pat J. Palmer, University of Iowa: Based on the report of an 
investigation conducted by the University of Iowa (UI Report), the 
respondent's guilty plea in a State criminal case, and additional 
analysis conducted by ORI in its oversight review, the U.S. Public 
Health Service (PHS) found that Pat J. Palmer, former Assistant 
Research Scientist at UI, engaged in scientific misconduct (1) in 
research supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant R01 
MH55284 entitled ``Collaborative Linkage Study of Autism;'' (2) in 
grant proposals 1 R10 MH55284-01, 2 R01 MH55284-04 (both entitled 
``Collaborative Linkage Study of Autism''), 1 R01 DC05067-01, and 1 R55 
DC05067-01A1 (both entitled ``The Genetics of Specific Speech and 
Language Disorders''); and (3) in obtaining salary support from 
postdoctoral training grant T32 MH14620. PHS found that Ms. Palmer 
engaged in scientific misconduct by:
    (1) Fabricating interview records for at least six interviews of 
autism patient families;
    (2) Fabricating her claims for a B.S. from the University of 
Northern Iowa, a M.S./M.P.H. from the University of California at 
Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Epidemiology/Bio-statistics from the 
University of Iowa in biographical sketches that were submitted to NIH 
in four grant applications (see above); and
    (3) Fabricating her claim that she obtained a Ph.D. in 
Epidemiology/Bio-statistics from the University of Iowa in the 
biographical sketches of a training grant application, so she received 
salary support from July 1995 through June 1998 for postdoctoral 
training under NIH training grant T32 MH14620.
    Ms. Palmer also engaged in dishonest conduct that demonstrates that 
she is not presently responsible to be a steward of Federal funds. She 
falsified that she was a coauthor of several published articles, by 
inserting her name or replacing another name with her name on 10 
articles listed in her biographical sketch for four NIH grant 
applications (see above):
    (a) Canby, C.A., [Palmer, P.J.], & Tomanek, R.J. ``Role of lowering 
arterial pressure on maximal coronary flow with and without regression 
of cardiac hypertrophy.'' American Journal of Physiology 257:H1110-
H1118, 1989.
    (b) Stegink, L.D., Brummel, M.C., Filer, L.J., Jr, & [Palmer, P.J., 
replaced Baker, G.L.]. ``Blood methanol concentrations in one-year old 
infants administered grade [sic] doses of aspartame.'' Journal of 
Nutrition 113:1600-1606, 1983.
    (c) Stegink, L.D., Koch, R., [Palmer, P.J., replaced Blaskovics, 
M.E.], Filer, L.J., Jr., Baker, G.L., & McDonnell, J.E. ``Plasma 
phenylalanine levels in phenylketonuric heterozygous and normal adults 
administered aspartame at 34mg/kg body weight.'' Toxicology 20:81-90, 
1981.
    (d) Stegink, L.D., Brummel, M.C., [Palmer, P.J., replaced McMartin, 
K.], Martin-Amat, G., Filer, L.J., Jr., Baker, G.L., & Tephly, T.R. 
``Blood methanol concentrations in normal adult subjects administered 
abuse doses of aspartame.'' Journal of Toxicology & Environmental 
Health 7:281-290, 1981.
    (e) Stegink, L.D., Reynolds, W.A., Pitkin, R.M., Cruikshank, D.P., 
& [Palmer, P.J.]. ``Placental transfer of taurine in rhesus monkeys.'' 
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 24:2685-2692, 1981.
    (f) Stegink, L.D., Filer, L.J., Jr, Baker, G.L., & [Palmer, P.J., 
replaced Brummel, M.C.]. ``Plasma and erythrocyte amino acid levels of 
adult humans given l00mg/kg body weight aspartame.'' Toxicology 14:131-
140, 1979.
    (g) Weiss, N.S., Szekely, D.R., Austin, D.F., & [Palmer, P.J.]. 
``Increasing incidence of endometrial cancer in the United States.'' 
New England Journal of Medicine 294:1259-1262, 1976.
    (h) Elwood, E.K., & [Palmer, P.J., replaced Apostolopoulos, A.X]. 
``Analysis of developing enamel of the rat. II.Electrophoretic and 
amino acid studies.'' Clinical Metabolic Studies

[[Page 7489]]

[sic] [should be Calcified Tissue Research] 17:327-335, 1975.
    (I) Aronow, W.S., Goldsmith, J.R., Kern, J.C., Cassidy, J, [Palmer, 
P.J.], Johnson, L.L., Adams, W., & Nelson, W.H. ``Effect of smoking 
cigarettes on cardiovascular hemodynamics.'' Archives of Environmental 
Health 28, 330-332, 1974.
    (j) Seltzer, C.C., Friedman, G.D., Siegelaub, A.B., & [Palmer, 
P.J., replaced Collen, M.F.]. ``Smoking habits and pain tolerance.'' 
Archives of Environmental Health 29,170-172, 1974.
    Ms. Palmer has entered into a Voluntary Exclusion Agreement 
(Agreement) in which she has voluntarily agreed for a period of three 
(3) years, beginning on January 26, 2004:
    (1) To exclude herself from any contracting or subcontracting with 
any agency of the United States government and from eligibility or 
involvement in nonprocurement programs of the United States government 
referred to as ``covered transactions'' as defined in the debarment 
regulations at 45 CFR part 76; and
    (2) To exclude herself from serving in any advisory capacity to PHS 
including but not limited to service on any PHS advisory committee, 
board, and/or peer review committee, or as a consultant.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Director, Division of Investigative 
Oversight, Office of Research Integrity, 1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 
750, Rockville, MD 20852; (301) 443-5330.

Chris B. Pascal,
Director, Office of Research Integrity.
[FR Doc. 04-3336 Filed 2-13-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-31-P