Eric T. Poehlman (born c. 1956), an American scientist in the field of human

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's ...

and aging, was the first academic in the United States to be jailed for falsifying data in a grant application. He had published fraudulent research alleging hormone replacement injections as a therapy for menopause, when in fact they had no proven medical benefits at all. He joined the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the United ...

(UVM) College of Medicine in 1987 as an assistant professor, later working for three years at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

in Baltimore. He eventually returned to UVM as a full professor. Poehlman built a reputation as one of the leading authorities on the metabolic changes that come with aging, particularly during

menopause Menopause, also known as the climacteric, is the time in women's lives when menstrual periods stop permanently, and they are no longer able to bear children. Menopause usually occurs between the age of 47 and 54. Medical professionals often ...

; he published more than 200

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

articles over two decades of research. His papers included research on the genetics of

and the impact of exercise, often following human subjects over time to document changes in their physiology. However, his stellar career unravelled when Poehlman's misconduct was detected and exposed by a former UVM lab technician, Walter DeNino, who once viewed Poehlman as his mentor. Poehlman was accused of

scientific misconduct Scientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in the publication of professional scientific research. A '' Lancet'' review on ''Handling of Scientific Misconduct in Scandinavian countrie ...

and on March 17, 2005 pleaded guilty to the charges, acknowledging falsifying 17 grant applications to the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

and fabricating data in 10 of his papers that were submitted between 1992 and 2000. On June 28, 2006, Poehlman was ordered to serve a year and a day in federal prison for using falsified data in federal research grants that he submitted for funding. In a plea bargain that he made with the prosecutors, Poehlman pleaded guilty with one $542,000 grant; the government prosecutors stated that Poehlman had defrauded agencies out of $2.9 million. "Dr. Poehlman fraudulently diverted millions of dollars," said David V. Kirby, the US attorney for Vermont. "This in turn siphoned millions of dollars from the pool of resources available for valid scientific research proposals. As this prosecution proves, such conduct will not be tolerated." Before imposing the sentence, Judge William Sessions III said "I generally think deterrence is significant, perhaps more so in this case. The scientific community may be watching." Sessions reprimanded Poehlman for his misconduct, saying he had "violated the public trust." In addition to jail time, Poehlman was permanently barred from getting more federal research grants, and was ordered by the court to write letters of retraction and correction to several scientific journals. He currently works on the South shore of Montreal as an academic adviser for Champlain Regional College.

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External links

Press Release - Dr. Eric T. Poehlman
by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Research Integrity {{DEFAULTSORT:Poehlman, Eric 1956 births Living people Obesity researchers People involved in scientific misconduct incidents

See also

References

External links