| |
 |
 |
| |
| |
|
| |
| |
|
| |
| |
- Official Business Card, Jonathan Kagan, Deputy Director, DAIDS
(Note: the graphic used on the business card is composed of the NIAID symbol enclosed inside the emblem of the rock music group, the Grateful Dead)
|
| Fishbein Vindicated In NIH Director’s Report |
Senior Advisor to Director (Ruth Kirschstein) to Deputy Director, NIH, Management Review, Report, Complaint No. NIAID 2004-0004, August 9, 2004.
Vindicated! This report, prepared at the direction of Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., Director, NIH, vindicates Jonathan M. Fishbein, M.D. of wrongdoing and describes the NIH Division of AIDS (DAIDS) as “a troubled organization.” Dr. Zerhouni knowingly withheld this vital document from Congress for nearly a year while allowing NIH officials to continue unjustified termination proceedings against Dr. Fishbein. Senator Arlen Specter, Chairman, U.S. Senate Labor, HHS Appropriations subcommittee requested information on the Fishbein case in a July 3, 2004 letter. Dr. Zerhouni responded to Chairman Specter in a September 14, 2004 letter, never informing him that his own internal review had found Fishbein’s allegations of misconduct at DAIDS to be credible and his termination unwarranted. NIH hid this favorable report from Dr. Fishbein and his lawyer even though it should have been produced through both the FOIA process and the EEO discovery process. |
| |
| Sexual Harassment and Reprisal at NIH |
- In Oct. 2003, Dr. Jonathan Kagan, the deputy director for NIH's AIDS division, sent an email to colleagues showing a woman's exposed breast. click here
- A deposition by NIH employee Mary Ann Luzar that details Kagan's alleged behavior, from kissing subordinates to using profanity.
click here
- In a June 2003 email exchange with Dr. Jonathan Fishbein ostensibly about the arrival of a new Blackberry wireless device, Kagan jokingly warns Fishbein not to use it at an upcoming rock concert - suggesting instead the use of drug paraphernalia. click here
http://wid.ap.org/documents/nih/research.html |
| |
| Fishbein Praised
for Work Performance |
- An award to Fishbein,
signed by NIH allergy and infectious
disease chief Anthony Fauci, for
"outstanding contributions
and efforts" in November of
2003. click
here
- A confidential Feb.
4, 2004 memo from Fishbein to Dr.
Tramont, the AIDS Division head,
regarding Deputy Director Jonathan
Kagan. Fishbein blasts Kagan for
"berating" him on managerial
style issues, playing the staff
off against one another, and creating
a hostile work environment. click
here
- A response from Tramont
to Fishbein, dated Feb. 14, 2004,
explaining why Kagan was chosen
for the job. He also praises Fishbein
for bringing positive change to
the division. click
here
- An e-mail exchange
beginning Feb. 12, 2004, which initiates
with Kagan asking whether Fishbein
was serving a probationary period.
Staffers reply that he is on a two-year
probation, reminding Kagan that
Fishbein is up for an award. "If
you are thinking about moving on
termination you may want to pull
the award recommendation,"
NIH staffer Robert Hockensmith advises.
click
here
- Further e-mail
traffic among Kagan, Tramont and
others about how to fire Fishbein.
Tramont notes that "we are
going to have to have ironclad documentation"
to make the termination stick. click
here
http://wid.ap.org/documents/whistleblower.html |
| |
| AIDS
Drug Risks |
- A nine-page letter
send by the Department of Health
and Human Services Office for Human
Research Protections outlining problems
which it said showed that HHS violated
federal rules and patient protections.
click
here
- The Uganda site audit
report by Westat Corp., paid by
the NIH. The report notes among
other things that several "adverse
events...may not have been collected
or reported in a timely manner."
click
here
- Shorthand minutes
from a meeting on March 1, 2002
among top officials at the NIH as
they reviewed the findings of auditors
and doctors who had visited the
Ugandan test site. click
here
- A report Dr. Tramont
put out summarizing the March 2002
Westat audit, pointing out that
there is "no evidence that
the study's scientific results are
invalid." click
here
- A report by
drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim critical
of the Uganda trials. Of special
note is the hand-written instruction
on the first page by an NIH official
directing the report "to be
destroyed when audit is upon us."
click
here
http://wid.ap.org/nevirapine1.html
|
| |
| NIH Coverup |
- A note by Dr. Edmund Tramont to
his subordinates, noting his concern
that safety monitors critical of
the Uganda trial might not understand
AIDS and that some leniency should
be given to a black-run clinic in
Africa in the midst of an AIDS epidemic.
click
here
- An excerpt from an E-mail from
Dr. Tramont noting the importance
of encouraging the fight against
AIDS "especially when the president
is about to visit them." click
here
- A response to Tramont's letter
by his top deputy, AIDS Division
Deputy Director Jonathan Kagan,
who warns against being "motivated
by political gains."
click here
- By 2003, Tramont sought to put
to rest debate about the practices
and results of the Uganda trial.
He told staff that any further review
"would be beyond reason."
click
here
- A report by Dr. Betsy Smith reaffirmed
most of the safety concerns of the
first two audits. She made a sweeping
condemnation of the Uganda trial,
noting "incomplete or inadequate
safety reporting" and patient
records "of poor quality and
below expected standards of clinical
research." click
here
- The same report as re-written
by Dr. Tramont; this report removes
Smith's concerns and arrives at
a different conclusion. click
here
http://wid.ap.org/documents/nevirapine2.html |
| |
| Death in Memphis |
- An E-mail exchange
on Aug. 8, 2003, between NIH AIDS
Division chief Dr. Edmund Tramont
and NIH's Dr. Jonathan Fishbein
about Tennessee patient Joyce Anne
Hafford's death from liver failure
during a nevirapine trial. Tramont
ascribes the death to "dumd
[sic] docs" who failed to take
the patient off nevirapine amid
signs of liver failure. click
here
- The official case
review, which notes that the Memphis
hospital failed to review lab results
which would have shown liver failure
starting well before Hafford's death.
click
here
- A new warning
on nevirapine, issued by the NIH's
Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group
(PACTG) to researchers in late August
2003 after Hafford's death, detailing
liver complications that could arise
from use of the drug.
click
here
http://wid.ap.org/documents/nevirapine3.html |
|
|
|
|
|
|
