Emory will punish psychiatrist Nemeroff

Emory University on Monday permanently stripped Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff of his department chairmanship and placed severe restrictions on the internationally known psychiatrist’s extracurricular activities.

Emory’s announcement followed an internal investigation into $800,000 in payments made to Nemeroff by the global pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline between January 2000 and January 2006. Nemeroff received the payments for more than 250 speeches he made to other medical professionals.

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Kay Hinton

Emory found that Charles Nemeroff had violated the university’s policies by not reporting his outside income from GlaxoSmithKline.

Higher education

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Nemeroff has been a central figure in a federal investigation of whether drug company payments to doctors and academics skew research in favor of certain drugs.

In its investigation, Emory found that Nemeroff had violated the university’s policies by not reporting his outside income from GlaxoSmithKline. He was Emory’s chairman of the department of psychiatry since 1991.

Nemeroff was paid by other drug companies, but the university only reviewed payments from GlaxoSmithKline because it was his largest single payer, and the company cooperated with Emory.

Nemeroff’s most powerful critic, U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who is conducting the investigation into National Institutes of Health grants, applauded Emory’s actions on Monday, calling them “swift and sure-footed.” Emory’s psychiatry department received $22 million in NIH grants last year.

In a statement, Grassley said, “Accurate disclosure and transparency are fundamental to the integrity of medical research. Without them, the public trust is violated and public confidence in the system is legitimately shaken.”

In addition to losing his chairmanship, Nemeroff will not be able to apply for NIH grants for at least two years and will need pre-approval from the dean of the medical school for any outside income.

In a statement released by Emory, Nemeroff said: “I regret the failure of full disclosure on my part that has led me to the current situation. I believe that I was acting in good faith to comply with the rules as I understood them to be in effect at the time.”