1 Boring Old Man

• speechless…
• an ethical guy…
• only one question…

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In the past, Senator Grassley has been forthcoming with the responses he receives from such inquiries. Let’s hope he continues that policy. Anyone who follows these things is a stakeholder in this inquiry. For review, back in 2009 when Dr. Nemeroff was jockeying for a job in Miami, we have this:

As He Worked to Strengthen Ethics Rules, NIMH Director Aided a Leading Transgressor
The Chronicle of Higher Education
By Paul Basken
June 8, 2010

… It was the latest benefit for both sides to a relationship that Dr. Nemeroff had cultivated for at least 16 years, said Dr. Carroll, now scientific director of the Pacific Behavioral Research Foundation, a nonprofit mental-health research foundation in California.

Dr. Nemeroff began offering help to the now-director of the NIMH in 1994, when Dr. Insel was facing the nonrenewal of his research job at the NIH, Dr. Carroll said, bringing him to Emory to serve as a professor of psychiatry and director of the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center. Dr. Nemeroff also led a lobbying effort that helped ensure Dr. Insel’s appointment in 2002 as NIMH director, Dr. Carroll said.

Dr. Carroll, who supervised Dr. Nemeroff for six years at Duke, describes the career assistance for Dr. Insel as part of a strategy in which Dr. Nemeroff would "put people in debt to him, and then call in the chips later"…

[1] Dr. Insel writes to Dr. Nemeroff that someone [else] at Emory was chosen Principle Investigator of a grant, I surmise it is one formerly under Dr. Nemeroff.
[2] The Dean at Miami, Dr. Goldschmidt, contacts Dr. Insel asking for a recommendation for Dr. Nemeroff who is applying for the Chair in Psychiatry.
[3] Dr. Insel declines a request for recommendation from Dr. Goldschmidt, but says he will talk informally over the phone.
[4] Dr. Goldschmidt agrees to call.

The e-mail correspondence, obtained by The Chronicle from the NIH in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act, showed that Dr. Goldschmidt wrote to Dr. Insel in July 2009 asking for "a confidential opinion" regarding Dr. Nemeroff.

Dr. Goldschmidt said in an interview that he already had enough recommendations by that time to make him feel comfortable about hiring Dr. Nemeroff, and only wanted to hear Dr. Insel’s direct assurance of his NIH eligibility. "Recruiting Charlie, I was quite concerned with his standing, with the NIH specifically, because I was not going to recruit somebody who could not apply for NIH grants," Dr. Goldschmidt said.

But Dr. Insel, writing back five minutes later, saw an even wider opportunity to help, offering to provide Dr. Goldschmidt with his own words of recommendation. "I cannot provide a written, formal recommendation by NIH rules," Dr. Insel told Dr. Goldschmidt. "However, I can discuss informally by phone". Calendar records show they spoke by phone 10 days later, on July 27. Dr. Nemeroff wrote to Dr. Insel later that day, making plans to meet the following morning for breakfast before they attended a conference in Philadelphia and thanking him for the help with Dr. Goldschmidt, saying, "I appreciate your efforts."

[5] In an email to Dr. Helen Mayberg, Dr. Insel assures her that Charlie Nemeroff is going to get an offer from the University of Miami soon, making her life at Emory easier.
[6] She says she’s pulling for Charlie.
[7] Charlie tells Dr. Insel he got the job and is already talking to Linda Brady [at NIMH] about grants.
[8] Dr. Insel congratulates Charlie, telling him it’s a "new beginning"…