54 Scientists Fired, Resigned Over NIH Inquiry Into Foreign Ties

Fifty-four scientists have been fired or have resigned from their institutions in connection with an ongoing investigation by the National Institutes of Health into whether grantees are disclosing their ties with foreign governments, Science reported. The majority of cases under investigation -- 93 percent -- involve funding from China.

The NIH began investigating whether university researchers were disclosing their ties to foreign governments in 2018, and subsequently contacted universities with concerns about specific researchers. The investigation has resulted in criminal charges in the cases of a former Emory University neuroscience professor, Xiao-Jiang Li, and Harvard University's former chemistry chair, Charlies Lieber.