I am a whistleblower. AMA.

What did you blow the whistle on?

I had one of the top jobs in my field for medical research.

Once I got there I worked 12-15 hour days for several months. By the 4th-5th month, I noticed that there were several things completely fraudulent ranging from (but not limited to): falsification of records, manipulation of data to achieve favorable results, intentional misapplication of government funding, illegal subject testing, unapproved testing of studies.

By the 7th month, my boss started to realize I wasn't going with the flow, and initiated steps to start to limit my data access and alienate me from others.

What was the last straw that made you finally blow the whistle?

Videos of therapy sessions were being edited to make it seem like patients were progressing when in fact they were performing worse than baseline. A wealthy family from another country with poor english, was in tears when they saw the video of her child's "progression". They were instructed to keep practicing the therapy techniques at home.

The next week the mother confided in me that she felt she was failing as the child wasn't progressing and broke down in tears saying what a good service we are performing. I didn't have the heart to tell her that we weren't doing anything put becoming a paper mill.

[deleted]

It's very easy to move money around and to say you spent $450,000 in fMRI scans for study X when you really diverted funds to 6 other studies.

When you say top job, do you mean it was a great position, or this was at a top institution as well?

At a top institution.

I don't have any questions really, I guess I'm not really surprised by any of your answers given so far. But I just wanted to thank you. Even if you didn't fully know what you were getting into it was still a brave and honorable act you've done. I'm glad you stood up for what you believed in and for what its worth you have my utmost respect.

Thank you, this may sound cliche, but I don't consider myself brave. I had to take anti anxiety meds for the first time in my life and seek therapy. This is on top of several people with many years experience warning me what would happen next - and how to combat it.

All I did was listen to what they said and fight every urge in my body which told me to give up.

Looking back now, do you think it was worth it? Has anything changed at your past employer? Or do you wish you'd kept quiet?

It's very tough to say because all my contact with everyone was cut off... completely. I do however feel it was worth it, as it was completely unethical to what they were doing and they were inculcating young minds to perform research in a completely improper way.

I am fed bits and pieces from two friends of mine who are no longer employed there either, who assure me things have changed a bit (funding has been completely suspended, all projects were stopped) - but I do not know how long those changes will last. There was three concurrent investigations which spouted from my one interview initially, along with 2 of my friends later corroborating a lot of what transpired by stepping up as well... which was very brave of them as they had more on the line then I did.

Just curious. How long ago was this?

Less than 2 years ago.

Did the head guy lose his job?

Not yet.

What kind of medical research were you doing?

Research was in the neuroscience field, with a specific focus on rehabilitating patients' language whom lost the ability to communicate due to stroke (or were born that way).

What rehabilitation techniques was the lab using? I recently wrote a report on the uses of music therapy in language rehabilitation of stroke patients, I was just wondering if any of the therapies I researched turned out to be not all they were cracked up to be.

This is very close to what the lab was researching.

That's very interesting, did the lab claim that the intonation therapy was more successful than it was? How would that benefit the lab?

They claimed it was the end all, along with other techniques they had. They deliberately found reasons to exclude subjects from their sample size, and would openly discuss this in lab meetings of how they were excluding subjects.

Thank you for doing this. Really, thank you. My older daughter was born with dyspraxia and we have had to wade through therapy modalities to find what we hope is working. We are always suspicious of "new" and alternative treatments for the reasons you blew the whistle. I'm just glad someone spoke up for families like mine.

Be careful. I seen many families and the looks on their faces of how bad they want any improvement with their loved ones. And some people take them for granted although they don't feel like they are. Best of luck.

How do you know they are spying on you?

One of the employees whom I trusted, hanged out with, and genuinely liked, called me and asked if we could get lunch the next day. He informed me this was clearly by the request of the director, in order to find out what I know. He seemed very distraught over the phone about the whole process, so I figured I wouldn't put him in a bind (and wouldn't reveal anything either) and told him it was ok.

He showed up the next day and revealed to me the data they were deleting, the documents they were forging (I was already terminated by this point), and such - which actually shed more light on things I didn't know about.

I made the mistake of telling him of some of the things I knew, and how I knew the computer team could retrieve deleted data, and he broke down and cried. He said he had to report the next day to the director and "Would not tell him any of this" and seemed pretty resolute in that. He also said he would call me the next day.

I never heard back from him.

Hi, I'm in research (and could hazard a good guess at who you are). I'm at the post-doc stage of my career and have been encountering many of the same issues. I've even personally engaged in some stuff that, looking back, wasn't even close to the right way to do the science but was what needed to be done to make manuscripts and grants and prestige for my boss. I feel. So. Guilty. I can't even describe the loathing and shame. I hate myself and my career and I contemplate dark things. This isn't for sympathy; I made some bad choices. But honestly, I dove in to science with all the wonder and zeal of a kid who grew up on Mister Wizard. I'm not even totally sure what all happened. And in reality, I didn't even do anything that I don't see happening all over the place, everywhere I've ever worked. Not everyone cherry picks and conveniently excludes data points for b.s. reasons, but once you know to suspect it and what the signs are, you start to recognize it disturbingly often. And then you see the system that we have in place that enables it, from hotshot whip-cracking PIs "training" exhausted grad students basically at gunpoint to journals that want to sweep the problem under the rug. And a circlejerking funding mechanism that depends on it and an ivory tower that refuses to embrace the openness and technology required to combat it. It's shocking and it's got me ashamed of this whole enterprise.

I think I want out, but it may be too late for me. I think people really underestimate how of the research record is irreproducible, anomolous, heavily massaged, or just plain fabricated crap. Thanks for being so much braver than I can be right now.

I am so sorry to hear that. I had many friends that felt the same way. Best wishes to you friend.

Would you do it again considering the consequences?

Yes.

Can you elaborate on this?

As I understand from reading, 3/4ths of whistleblowers lose their employment. Less than 1/4th gain any financial compensation.

All whistleblowers lose their employment.

Plenty can sue and receive some form of compensation for wrongful firing though.

Not in the state I was employed (to my knowledge, one attorney actually said "They can fire you for wearing blue shoes in this state, because they don't like blue shoes.") It was a very pro-employer state.

In the beginning, did you realize what the consequences to you will be? If so, what was the main reason to go through that? And why did you loose your friends? I can understand why you lost your job, but I would have thought your friends will help you more than anything.

I had no idea what the consequences would be :(. My main reason for coming forth was I was a very big believer in the scientific research we were doing, and honestly felt like we were going to change the world. I quickly realized my boss just cared about securing funding and padding a resume, which already was vast.

I was very close to many of my coworkers who I considered friends. All of them except 3 turned on me in various forms (spying, backtalking, converting others to vilifying me, using their seniority status to blacklist me, etc).

It's shame that people who really want to make a difference in the world got screwed and people who are in it only for the money can live happily ever after. You have my respect for what you did and I hope that maybe some of your future employers will recognize that as something really positive.

Thank you. I really felt disgusted when parents of the children who were in our studies felt like they were doing something wrong, crying and asking for help - when I knew it was due to our studies being fraudulent.

I actually gave up another more lucrative job to go back to school then pursue this career path - as I wanted to change the world. I left demoralized, dependent on anti anxiety meds, and had to seek therapy, but honestly feel like I came out more resilient due to this experience.

Those 3 are real friends. Also, would there be any legal problems if you told us what company you worked for?

I've had threats of a personal defamation lawsuit relayed to me before.

It's one of the top 5 universities in the world. I'd also prefer not to disclose the name because I feel it unfairly paints a nasty picture of an otherwise storied career.

If not the specific university, can you tell us the country?

[deleted]

:O

Hi, I'm wondering if you could share more details about the lab's reason for the fraudulent activity?

The way it was explained to me, was science is just as competitive as business. You start at the bottom, you get lucky with a study and strike gold. But in order to stay at the top, you decide to cut a corner to save time. Soon, you cut another corner. Then another. And another. Keep in mind, none of this was done will ill intent originally.

By the end of the day you end up justifying all the corners you cut, but your work becomes something else entirely.

In academic circles the problem (things like competitiveness) mainly comes from the way funds are divided. I don't know how it is done in the US but I can imagine it doesn't differ that much from here in Europe. Simply put, to get your funding at the beginning of a year, your department (be it languages, science, whatever) needs to churn out scientific papers and books. Not meeting your quota as a department means less funds, means tougher year.

First and foremost this gives rise to a complete stunting of research. Departments will rather rehash old ideas (bordering on the verge of plagiarism), or fill in flimsy written papers with pseudo-scientific (and incorrect) bullshit, as long as there's a steady stream of written material coming out of the department. Original research and the investigation of new things becomes too timeconsuming to be valuable when looked at from a financial perspective, which means that you're either going to go with the flow, or come up with something new that has to sound EXTREMELY good and quickly manageable.

Secondly, situations like the one you found yourself in arise. New research will take place but as you stated, corners get cut, and then some, and eventually some more, and you end up with a bastard child of the thing you originally started. Falsification, 'approximation' of results, anything to keep the money rolling in.

So yeah. Science is just as competitive as business because science stopped being about the science and started being about money. Just as pretty much everything else. Sorry you had to find this out the hard way, but seriously, good on ya for being an awesome human being.

This is a very informative post for others.

Were you compensated for whistleblowing? You lost your job and I guess the field you're working at is very specific and close to each other. Wouldn't that mean that you'd have to move and/or change your field? Would you get compensated for something like that?

I lost my job and will have to change my career. This was a constant subtle reminder that HR gave me as well as the director.

I luckily received a severance package which I did not expect as well as a letter of recommendation as part of the negotiation process for another issue to prevent the institution from getting liability (not related to the whistleblowing).

Unfortunately, the attorneys I contacted said the amount of money they expect this kind of case to collect is in the range of $400,000 to $600,000 - which amounts to $100,000-150,000 for them for a 4-5 year case. For them, it was simply not worth it unless the case was air tight. I did not have the exact financial records that they were most concerned with, which was defrauding the government of money. The institution however admitted to defrauding the government which resulted in all funding being suspended - but they apparently took that as a preemptive step to prevent me from collecting damages.

I was bummed, but that was not my reason for stepping forward.

Have you been able to restore your career since blowing the whistle?

No, I lost my job, my career, and my passion.

My SO also works in big research and constantly complains about some of the practices that have become common which really detract from the 'nobel' perception of science. He always talks about his bosses submitting peer reviews late to help stop competition, or moving funds about and pressing people for projects so they can keep on adding their name to the lists of authors on papers. Obviously what you experienced is the next step of this.

Do you think this experience has given you any idea how to fix this bad culture in science? At the end of the day it is we who suffer from all this petty childish behaviour when good science just doesn't get done.

The way the environment is set up now for research, is absolutely atrocious. There are too many journals sprouting out which only serve to produce papers, causing an inflation. It literally is "Publish or Perish. To make matters worse, the government is cutting spending costs which amount to another billion dollars in the next 10 years. The ultimate goal of all scientists is to become tenured and run their own lab so they can focus on their own research. That is incredibly hard to do, as there are so many people out there with publications./rant

This unfortunately, has some scientists feeling there is no other recourse other than to cut corners. How many corners they cut, and which ones they do, are completely up to them.

I'm not sure how to even begin solving the problem aside from raising awareness to how integral science is for our future. Stuff like optogenetics is absolutely fascinating, and the more the public becomes aware of the benefits, the more they will invest in our future.

How much were you earning before and how much are you earning in your current job (if you have one, that is)?

Does the us government give any sort of reward for snitching on people who scam it?

The government awards a percentage of defrauded money back to the whistleblower. Most whistleblowers cases takes around 5 years to reach a conclusion, so it's a lengthy process.

Did any positive change at this institution result from you blowing the whistle? In other words, was risking and losing everything worth it in the end?

I feel it was. All the research we did equates to tax dollars being spent on fault research to pay for salaries. Other studies point to ours and try to replicate it, which results in more wasted dollars. What would happen, which was even worse, was my director was very well connected MD/PhD. Him and his acquaintances had a habit of passing papers around (by approving them for publication) without really reading them. This went on and on.

Fellow scientist here. I work in a lab now and fortunately have yet to see any of this disgusting activity take place. I'd like to say a couple things.

One, if you blew the whistle on these people isn't all the info on them, such as who they are and what they were forging, already available? I believe that the best course of action (maybe not for you personally, but for the good of scientific integrity) is to make these asshats as public as possible. Fake research has NO PLACE in our journals and records, and does nothing but harm the progress of our collective intelligence.

Second, rest assured that no matter what, these people will eventually be exposed. No researcher can get away with this sort of bullshit completely. If their methods are out there, you can bet that others will try to replicate them, even if only to use them as a springboard to other things. When the results of these experiments all contradict the findings that came from this lab, people will start to wonder. It may take time, but you can't just publish fake data and expect everyone to say "Hmmmm that's nice" and leave it at that.

Lastly, keep your head up, you did the right thing and don't let anyone tell you otherwise :) I believe one of the things that is most lacking in our society is some accountability. People get away with too much shit nowadays. Your higher-ups are akin to a 3-year-old throwing a tantrum because someone caught him stealing a pack of gum. Thank you for not being afraid to expose them, and potentially save some people from unnecessary harm to serve a few horrible people's egos.

Thank you. The institution I came from before was absolutely wonderful and really helped ignite my passion for science. I never saw anything nasty there, but upon talking with my previous boss, I found out that she was aware of another big institution that engaged in similar activity (but never broached falsifying/manipulating data).

So why not go back to the previous institution you enjoyed?

I lost my passion.

Your situation sorts of reminds me of the series Monster. It's a story about a young, brilliant Neurosurgeon who is very passionate about his job and saving lives. He works at one of the top hospitals in his country and very much like you he was continually facing decisions that would cost him his career advancement: to save a small boy with a critical gunshot wound to the head that got to the hospital first or follow the Director's orders and operate on the Mayor who helps funds the hospital?

He decides to follow his conscience and stand up against inequality in healthcare and he gets treated like trash and loses his fiancee (the Director's daughter), his research, his promotion to Chief of Surgery, and basically any hope he could have of his career advancing. Later on the situation gets very messy when someone murders the whole Board of Directors and he lands himself headfirst into a huge underground conspiracy.

You should really give it a watch when you can. It reminded me of why I will probably hate working under others: can they ever be trusted to do what is right? And even worse, will they drag you into their little web of deceit and dishonesty?...

It really sickens me to know that science is treated with such disrespect. If science is truly the only thing in this world which we can be sure of, then why does their corruption have to ruin that too? Haven't we had enough with politics and religion?

Keep up what is right brother. We need honest, clear, and true scientists like you. Not these opportunistic scum that feed off the deception, manipulation, and hard work of others.

Thank you. For all that you've done, really.

Thank you for your comment. Even now, while answering questions, I'm experiencing anxiety. Someone keeps posting my personal info :/

So, what does the process of whistleblowing look like? I know the federal government (or is it by state?) has laws to protect whistleblowing: did these help or hinder you at all?

It's a very lengthy process, and the success rate I believe of cases that make it to court and get approved are 1 in 5 (as explained to me). This is why most top attorneys won't bother with cases with possible settlements below 10 million, because they all operate off of compensation percentages of the awarded settlement (since whistleblowers usually do not have the funds procured to hire these attorneys).

Were you fired? If so is there any legal recourse?

I was fired 2 days after they narrowed down the leak to me. Unfortunately I was employed in a state which is very pro-employer which left employees with very little rights. I spoke to three different attorneys who verified I could do nothing about the termination.

What has it been like looking for a different job in the same field? I would think (perhaps naively) that there would be enough scientists who abhor the idea of falsifying research that they would be interested in you.

All my passion was killed in research, so even though I feel I could attempt another foray into the field - all it would be doing is taking a worthy position away from someone who actually had the drive and would stick with it. And I could not live with that.

If my passion ever returns and the government changes their view towards research I might attempt to return for another foray into the field.

Was the research funding only from the government, or was there private funding as well?

It was primarily government funding, but we had a lot of wealthy patients, one of which donated over 1.5 million over 3 years to my knowledge.

So has the research been stopped? Are you able to sue? Were you supported by a gov group through the process of whistle blowing? Not sure if you have whistle blower protection law where you are.

Research was suspended. I am not able to sue since they reported their fraudulent activity to the appropriate agencies, which suspended their funding.

Thank you for answering. I know you have lost a lot and it sounds like you have had some dark days. Know this though, your character is solid mate. True courage and clear ethical values. You still have fight in you!

I appreciate hearing your story!

Thank you. My last 4 weeks were spent walking to work for 40 minutes thinking about who I can trust, spending the morning replying to emails from my director and HR as well as other departments, then filling out a worksheet which was mandated by my director which documented every minute of my day (including bathroom breaks). My office was also moved to by the morgue, so I would be in complete isolation all day with no one to speak to. I never saw any of my coworkers for the last 3 weeks of work.

moved to by the morgue, so I would be in complete isolation all day with no one to speak to. I never saw any of my coworkers for the last 3 weeks of work.

That's like solitary confinement in prison.... Seriously,props to you for your courage/fortitude to undergo all that.

The people I work for are very intelligent and can do research on how to break someone. Unfortunately for them, I had some contacts whom been on both sides of this process and advised me daily which helped keep my sanity.

What was their advice?

Don't trust the HR team, don't trust your co-workers, don't talk about this with anyone, keep it to yourself, plan for the next day, think about everything you are about to send, do not let them paper you to death without you combating it.

Was walking to work something you did prior to your whisleblowing?

Yes.

How's your personal life doing? Was it permanently effected by this experience? If so, do you think this whole thing will ever blow over enough to where you can return to a normal life?

On a side note, I'd like to say thank you. Our country is better because of people like you

My personal life suffered a lot, due to all my free time being spent looking up laws and speaking to attorneys as well planning for the next day.

If you've already blown the whistle and it's already cost you everything, why don't you identify the university?

It's moreso to preserve my identity - since the event I've become more cautious about dispensing personal information online.

The university is one of the top 3 in the world though, if that helps.

Sorry if I missed it but something is not clear to me: Who exactly did you blow the whistle to? Also, how was that process?

I first blew the whistle outside the company, to the scientific review board. They in turn had me meet with the Human Subjects Protection Office as well as the Institutional Review Board. I then consulted with several attorneys afterwards, to find out the proper agencies to contact to blow the whistle. I did not know how fast things would move (within a day by director was being interviewed, within 2 days I was terminated, in a week an investigation probe started).

If I was a more forward thinking man, I would've contacted an attorney first, but collecting money never entered my head.

Dude my dad is apparently going through the same thing you are. He is working with a group of similar people to file a case against the company and the main focus is also fraud from falsifying data. There is a slim chance that my dad's case and your case are from the same job because he was a director for some large pharmaceutical company. Best of luck on your endeavors man, I hope that you pull through just like I hope that my dad does too.

Best of luck to your dad.

Today marks exactly one month since I was forced out of my job in healthcare for reporting abuse and objecting to departmental changes set in place to punish us (but mostly myself, for filing reports that could have cost the company a lot of money and talent had they acted). I have no way to get my life back as well. I want to thank you for doing this AMA and helping people understand the mindset and perils of becoming a whistleblower.

I am very sorry to hear that, and wish you the best of luck in your future.

What are you doing now? Have you found a new occupation?

I am unemployed, and studying for business school but hoping to attain job before that so I can save up money.

What is your favorite kind of Dinosaur and why?

This

Did you have to sign any competitor clauses or any form of a non disclosure agreement. Ive always found my self disgusted in the moral and ethical bankruptcy of many large corporations. I signed on as a co-op studenr for one of the largest International chemical companies and I had to disclose all my life connections to anyone in any competing business and swear to never disclose any company I.P. protected works or data or anything really. If you did Did you know you were essentially signing away youe right to do the right thing if you catch something wrong?

I signed an NDA unrelated to the whistleblowing information, which was related to something else illegal they were doing.

Hi, what was their official reason for firing you? I feel like you could sue the company because they fired you for being ethical. I'm no expert, so if you could explain that for me, it would be greatly appreciated :)

Fired me for not seeing eye to eye with my superiors.

Don't whistleblower get a good 20-30% of the fine if they find the company guilty? Is that true?

Yes, but it's a long process.

You may not know this but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. You said funding was suspended which I can assume would pause most of the clinical trials/ research etc. Were the patients / subjects of trials/therapies informed of said deception or were they fed some bs line to cover the university from lawsuits?

One patient who was close to finishing his therapy was allowed to conclude his treatment. Everyone else to my knowledge had to be stopped, and I'm sure they were told some lie.

What was the scariest part if your whole ordeal? And what is one thing that you miss the most but you can't do/see now because someone would recognize you?

You are a brave person for doing what you did for the sake of others, risking your reputation, family, friends, and even future opportunities in life. Thank you because without people like you we wouldn't know of some of the illegal/dangerous things some corporations/agencies/schools/other facilities are doing.

The scariest part was every day I walked to work I felt like it would be my last. The last 3 weeks at work were the worst. I'm being sent e-mails left and right in the morning and throughout my day from the director, and is cc'ing several other doctors on it with what I have things I have been doing wrong. And I have to respond to them and fight it knowing everyone who is cc'd is not on my side, meanwhile maintaining equanimity throughout and trying not to lose it or say the wrong thing.

I'm a researcher, in biomed, but a different field. I've seen a lot of corruption and have reported some of the minor things. I thought there were protections in place for whistleblowers? Anonymous tips and things like that?

You can report anonymously (which I did) but that never really gets anywhere, unless you are calling the Human Subjects Protection Office helpline. However, they usually need your name to call you back and ask you more questions, and those aren't normally left due to anonymity. It's sort of a catch 22.

Someone close to me had a stroke and I know he is trying therapy to regain language functions. Can you tell us what kind of therapy you were involved with and if the family is wasting money / time ?

If they had a stroke the current research indicates that melodic intonation therapy will prove most beneficial. In our experience, therapy past 45 sessions did not show an improvement. Best of luck to your loved one.

You are an inspiration. I've heard and read so many fucked up things about medical and pharmaceutical research, that you don't really know if the system works anymore. I have two (sets of) questions:

1) First one would be about drama (sorry). Did you have the chance to confront your superiors? Were you able tell them what you think of them? Did they got you and throw some Network-style speech at you? You have meddled with the primary forces of nature, Mr monkeywantsbanana!

2) How could we change the way the scientific community operates in order to avoid or minimize the corruption?

1) I had one chance to confront my superiors. I was nervous all day dreading the meeting but I prepared thoroughly. When I entered the meeting I called them out, politely, on every single lie. My HR rep was present, and she had to many times steer the conversation along when the director could not answer the question correctly and knew it would open them up for litigation. It was a scheduled 30 minute meeting that extended into 2 hours of me completely dismantling them. That was the best feeling I had, and that night I splurged and bought myself a $20 dinner of ribs. 2) I have no idea.

If you've already lost everything why are you being so vague and discrete in this AMA. Whistle-blowers call out specific grievances over specific companies and bring it to the public eye. This AMA reads, more like you know a guy who knows a guy. I'm not necessarily questioning you, but it seems odd that you have said explicitly that you have lost everything, and on the other hand you are obviously hiding something.

My question are these: who exactly was doing this? What scientific conclusions are in question because of these dubious methods?

I've pm'd my personal info, along with e-mails and pictures of myself to the mods.

The director and the doctor I worked under were actively falsifying data.

I'm going to ask you a very weird question here, and I would ask that you take a deep breath and answer it as best as you can with the parameters I lay out:

If you were to step back from the whole situation and think of it as a 3rd party observer, having not been affected by this in any way, shape or form, can you say that the actions of the other employees were just to remain compliant with the company and not endanger themselves, or were they actively trying to hurt you?

As an example, do you believe the conversations went:

Management: "X, did Bob talk to you about exposing our editing processes to the press?"

X: "Yeah, we talked about it once or twice. Is Bob in trouble?"

Or did it go:

Management: "Tell us everything you know about the leak."

X: "Bob is a scumbag and he told lies to the press about our processes."

All of the employees barring one are very nice people, so I cannot say that their actions were anyway trying to directly hurt me. They are all some of the most intelligent people I have ever met, but a lot of it is just a product of their environment. If they are being told by the director whom hired them, along with two key doctors above them that they trust, that "I cannot tell you why we are doing this and why you cannot speak to Bob but trust me it's for your own benefit" (verbatim what was relayed to me by another employee).

Also, preservation.

Do you think that the actions of the NSA have helped America in any major way?

I do not have enough knowledge of the topics to make an informed opinion.