A former professor at the University of Vermont College of Medicine says he made up data used to win federal research grants. The U.S. Attorney’s office says that 49-year-old Doctor Eric Poehlman has agreed to plead guilty to making false statements in an application for a $542,000 grant.
Prosecutors say Poehlman falsified and fabricated research data for a number of grant applications and academic articles between 1992 and 2002. The U.S. Attorney’s office describes three studies on menopause and aging in which prosecutors say Poehlman fabricated and falsified data on human participants in the studies. The U.S. Attorney’s office claims Poehlman then used the altered results in published papers and grant applications.
The UVM College of Medicine began investigating Poehlman’s work in 2000 after a research assistant made allegations of scientific misconduct. Poehlman resigned from UVM in 2001.