Asian American scientists express dissatisfaction with NIH practices

A recent forum aimed at repairing the relationship between the National Institutes of Health and Asian American scientists demonstrated that more needs to be done to restore trust.

More than 650 people registered for the online video forum, hosted on Thursday by the Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF) and the NIH, and over 60 questions were submitted, said Gisela Kusakawa, the executive director of the AASF, who moderated the discussion.

"This forum is really of critical importance and very timely for the community with many very much interested in hearing directly" from the NIH leadership, said Kusakawa.

Most of the comments posted in the forum's Zoom chat were expressions of discontent.

NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli, in a brief appearance during the discussion, said she's "deeply concerned about the difficult climate our valued Asian research colleagues have been facing", and NIH wants to "continue to hear from you, and particularly from those who may have lost trust in institutional and government support".

NIH Principal Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak then addressed the questions raised by the scientists.

The NIH leadership and the Asian scientists participating in the forum didn't agree on what occurred when the NIH in 2016 first sent out letters to leaders of more than 100 institutions, requiring them to find out whether NIH research funds were being properly spent.

One question from the Asian Faculty Association at Yale University said that "several courageous university leaders", per a Science magazine report Pall of Suspicion, said that Michael Lauer, deputy director for extramural research at NIH, "forced the universities to put PIs [principal investigators, the lead researchers for NIH-funded research projects or clinical trials] under investigation on at least involuntary leave. Will there be changes regarding this practice?"

Tabak said that "the Science article that was alluded to, unfortunately, is not an accurate depiction of what really happened", and "decisions of this type are not made unilaterally by any one individual at NIH, and any actions that are carried out are done with the support of the full NIH leadership".

Yan Chen, a forum participant, disputed Tabak's response in a chat post.

"I interviewed my colleagues in my institution whose labs were shut down after ‘someone higher up in NIH' called the research office at my university," Chen said. "They said the process described in the Science article (was) accurate, based on their own experience."

Tabak said that the NIH may impose remedies for noncompliance, which "really depend on the specifics".

According to the Science report, 103 out of 246 targeted scientists in NIH investigations were either terminated by their institutions or resigned.
Tabak acknowledged the loss of talented scientists resulting from the NIH's investigatory practices.

"There is no doubt that unless we are successful in restoring trust, we're going to fall short here," he told the forum participants. "The contributions made by Asian scientists are extraordinary. And this sort of reverse talent drain, if you will, is something that we would like to mitigate. It really comes down, though, to trust."

With Congress poised to reactivate the discontinued China Initiative program, Bertagnolli and Tabak pointed to the NIH procedure as a way to stand against political pressure that could lead to targeting or overzealous scrutiny of Asian American scholars.

But a forum participant saw the potential revival of the China Initiative as a failure on the part of NIH.

"While our politicians may not understand how science is done and why international collaboration is important, NIH, particularly leaders at NIH should know that well and should have the responsibility to educate our politicians and guide them to reach the best policy," said Yihong Ye. "Knowing that the previous policy, which was initially launched to stop foreign spies, failed completely to achieve its goal and still let our politicians to restart that failed policy is a big disappointment."