One would think the National Cancer Institute's Director of the Office of Ethics should be reviewing employee travel and, if necessary, raise red flags when so-called sponsored travel - trips taken by employees that are paid for by companies and other entities - appear unusual. Instead, the director was criticized and transferred for expressing concerns, according to US Senator Chuck Grassley.
In an Oct. 22 letter to the National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins and NCI director Harold Varmus, Grassley writes that the NCI's Acting Executive Officer disciplined the former Ethics Office director for pointing out that "NCI’s sponsored travel policy might be an illegal augmentation of NCI’s government travel appropriation, that the location of some of the conferences might be inappropriate and that the frequency and cost of the trips might be questionable."
Such as? Well, Grassley writes that, in 2008 and 2009, numerous NCI employees took between 10 and 20 sponsored travel trips, many of which cost more than $10,000, with some costing more than $17,000. Moreover, the destinations for conference and meetings were almost always overseas: Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, China and Brazil, among other places. The only places they would visit in the US were California and West Palm Beach, Florida. Interestingly, he notes the sponsored travel does not include NCI’s appropriation for government paid travel. And 16 NCI employees each took 10 or more trips.
"This is deeply troubling," Grassley writes about what he calls retaliation. "In short, it sounds as though the director of the NCI Office of Ethics may have been disciplined for doing her job."
And so Grassley, who is the ranking Republican on the US Senate Finance Committee, wants the NCI to provide all sorts of details about employee travel between 2008 and 2010, the names of those paying for the travel and the amount spent by NCI for paid government travel during that period. Finally, Grassley asks the NCI to conduct an internal review for following proper procedures governing sponsored travel. We have contacted NCI for comment and will update you accordingly.
15 Comments
so much for spending time solving cancer- on junkets
this is disheartening.
Any chance on learning the identity of the former Ethics Office director?
This is very slanted. I would bet money that the former Ethics Office director has a record of employment issues.
Try researching the other side of the story.
Employment issues can be manufactured.
I've seen multiple cases where employment issues began the day after employees reported crimes by managers.
Dear HA,
Thanks for your note. Here's the genesis of this item: I obtained the Grassley letter and, knowing it was circulating among other media, chose to write something as quickly as possible.
However, before doing so, I called the NCI public affairs office and forwarded them the letter in hopes of having a conversation with someone at the agency about the contents and allegations.
I then set about writing and I noted in my post - at the bottom - that I contacted the NCI for its side of the story and promised to provide an update when I heard back. I have still not heard back from the NCI and it's now more than 24 hours later. Meanwhile, I still hope to learn more about this episode.
Nonetheless, if there appears to be a slant, I would argue it can be traced to the NCI's decision not to respond, which effectively creates an information vaccum that robs readers - including you - from possibly understanding more about what transpired.
Hope this helps, ed
make sense Ed, thanks for that note
Senator Grassley is asking for a large amount of information. There are only so many hours in a day to compile that information. This Ethics Director had a number of harassment complaints against her. It is documented and will be found out. Give NCI time to give the right information.
HA,
Well why didn't the NCI make this statement when Ed contacted you for it (Oh, did I say you? I meant the NCI).
And speaking of ethics; why do you think it is okay for you to divulge on the internet that the former ethics director had multiple harassment complaints, then not clearly state whether the complaints were substantiated through an investigation.
;) Flame on!
What's up with the focus on the Ethics director? Isn't the issue whether the NCI Docs travelled instead of curing cancer? I thought feds couldn't seek any supplemental funding.
what a mess NIH!
Anyone check into the NCI response? Rumor has it that the agency did not respond. Check with Grassley - more to come, unless Grassley rolls over.
And I would like to know why it is ok to write that some scientists took so many trips for whatever without investigating?
Hypocrites
Look in the Code of Federal Regulations....this is allowed
Nothing happened. Grassley rolled over and NCI scientists are now traveling away without consequence.