Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) has taken final action in the following case: Helen Freeman, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center: Based on an investigation conducted by Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMS) and additional analysis conducted by ORI in its oversight review, ORI found that Dr. Helen Freeman, former HMS Postdoctoral Fellow at BIDMS, engaged in research misconduct in research supported by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant R37 DK053477. ORI found that the Respondent engaged in research misconduct by knowingly and intentionally falsifying three (3) figures and/or legends and one (1) supplemental movie legend in a manuscript submitted for publication to the journal Nature (Freeman, H.C., Kong, D., Sidman, R.L., & Lowell, B. "Inhibition of UCP2 Prevents Neurodegenerative Diseases in Mice.
A formal finding of research misconduct under 42 CFR part 93 (HHS) or equivalent agency policy. The respondent was found to have engaged in fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism of research data. The federal grant funds involved are typically identified in the FR notice, along with the administrative actions (debarment, supervised research, manuscript correction or retraction requirements).