Due to the name, many people believe that Harvard University is the best university in the world. However, think again. Indeed, Harvard had another scandal. One of the Harvard cardiac researchers created 31 studies with fake data. Even more, this is the researcher who made the idea of stem cell treatment for hearts famous.
Harvard Researcher Faked the Data
The researcher was Dr. Piero Anversa. He worked at Harvard Medical School and at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. But, officials at Harvard and the Hospital realized that the scientist faked the data in 31 studies.
First of all, Dr. Anversa had the idea that stem cells could repair damage in heart muscles. He claimed that one can take stem cells from bone marrow and inject them into the heart; thus, stem cells can turn into heart cells. But, the data was fake! Moreover, the false information hurt a lot of people.
Startups Were Hurt by Fake Studies at Harvard
Certainly, labs could not reproduce the findings. Above all, startups took the idea seriously. As the result, several companies were formed based on the fake claims. Even more, one of the organizations includes Dr. Anversa’s company. Indeed, the startups wanted to create new treatments for heart attacks and stroke. In another case, The National Institutes of Health had a clinical trial for patients with heart failure.
Most noteworthy, Benoit Bruneau, the SF Gladstone Institute associate director of cardiovascular research, gave her opinion. According to the associate director, 31 fake papers is extreme. She believes that it is almost a lab’s entire work and research field.
Harvard Declines to Comment
Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital started reviewing Dr. Anversa’s work in early 2013. In April 2017, the Hospital agreed to pay the federal government $10 million; this is due to accusations that Dr. Anversa submitted fake data to get research funding. On the other hand, Harvard’s officials declined to comment on why it took so long to take action on Dr. Anversa’s work.
Is Harvard University Useless?
So, many people think that Harvard is the best university for researchers and students. However, Dr. Anversa’s case is just one example out of many Harvard scandals; certainly, another recent Harvard scandal is the Marc Hauser case. Due to the scandals, it makes one wonder if the University is useful or not.
