Emory punishes psychiatrist Nemeroff for drug company ties

Internationally known psychiatrist Dr. Charles Nemeroff is facing serious consequences for taking payments from pharmaceutical companies. Emory University has permanently stripped him of his department chairmanship, and he won't be able to accept NIH grants for at least two years.

Emory has been investigating the $800,000 in payments made to Nemeroff by GlaxoSmithKline. The psychiatrist also received payments from other drug companies, but Emory chose to investigate those from Glaxo because it was the largest single payer. It couldn't have hurt that GlaxoSmithKline agreed to cooperate with Emory in the investigation.

Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) has been on the warpath against any apparent conflicts of interest, and has been an especially vocal critic of Dr. Nemeroff. Thus when Emory suspended Nemeroff, he was quick to applaud their decision.

Nemeroff himself has released a statement saying that he regrets that he didn't fully disclose all his payments, but that he still believes he was complying with the rules as he understood them.

To learn more about the suspension:
- read this Atlanta Journal-Constitution piece

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