Advisory panel to review Emory ethics policies

An advisory commission headed by a nationally known ethicist will review Emory University’s policies and practices regarding potential conflicts of interest.

The commission will report to university president James Wagner, who appointed the President’s Advisory Commission on Research Integrity and Professional Conflict Management.

Ethicist Paul Root Wolpe, new director of Emory’s Center for Ethics, will be the group’s chairman. Faculty from the schools of medicine, business and law will be among commission members.

Creation of the commission comes during an internal investigation into the financial ties of a top university psychiatrist, Dr. Charles Nemeroff.

Nemeroff has been a prime target of a U.S. Senate Finance Committee investigation into whether drug company money paid to doctors and academics compromises medical research and scholarship.