He Promised to Restore Damaged Hearts. Harvard Says His Lab Fabricated Research.
"For Dr. Piero Anversa, the fall from scientific grace has been long, and the landing hard.
Researchers
worldwide once hailed his research as revolutionary, promising the
seemingly impossible: a way to grow new heart cells to replace those
lost in heart attacks and heart failure, leading killers in the United
States.
But Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, his former employers, this month accused Dr. Anversa and his laboratory of extensive scientific malpractice.
More than 30 research studies produced over more than a decade contain
falsified or fabricated data, officials concluded, and should be
retracted. Last year the hospital paid a $10 million settlement to the
federal government after the Department of Justice alleged
that Dr. Anversa and two members of his team were responsible for
fraudulently obtaining research funding from the National Institutes of
Health.
“The number of papers is
extraordinary,” said Dr. Jeffrey Flier, until 2016 the dean of Harvard
Medical School. “I can’t recall another case like this.”"
