For this assignment, I reviewed the case summary of Wang, Zhiwei
Zhiwei Wang, MD, was investigated by Wayne State University for conduct committed. At the same time, he was working with the Karmanos Cancer Institute, in the Department of Pathology as a postdoctorate fellow. The office of Research Integrity found that Dr. Wang was guilty of the research misconduct of knowingly and/or intentionally falsifying/fabricating information in relation to the following instances:
- Data that was provided in grant applications, PhD dissertation and 14 publications
- Images used in experiments designed to identify underlying cell processes associated with apoptosis cancer. In this, there are several pages of reused and relabeled instances of this misconduct.
Honestly, must of the specific information involved in Dr. Wang’s misconduct is beyond my competency to interpret. However, he built an entire career from falsified information. I wonder if it was initial laziness that led to future research being built on falsified information from prior work or if his work was consistently and continually falsified in all the investigated instances of misconduct. The punitive action was taken to revoke Wang’s PhD and all “affected papers” except one. In addition, Dr. Wang agreed to a Voluntary Exclusion Agreement that excluded him for 10 years to contract or subcontract with and United States Agency, serving in an advisory capacity to “PHS” and to correct the before mentioned one paper that was not revoked in this ORI case. It is curious to me that the penalties were not harsher. This is medical research that has dire human consequences. In addition, how many others attempted to build knowledge form his falsified work. This effects not only his career but all work by others that was expanded from his findings.
Case Information: https://ori.hhs.gov/content/case-summary-wang-zhiwei