UCSD Scientist Resigns Amid Charges of Fraudulent Research

A prolific cardiac researcher at the UC San Diego School of Medicine has resigned amid allegations that he falsified research data in at least two recently published reports, The Times has learned.

Dr. Paul J. Friedman, an associate dean in the school, said in an interview Wednesday that university officials have found that Robert Slutsky fabricated research results in three recent cases, two published and one submitted for publication. Friedman said officials expect to find additional instances when they scrutinize all of Slutsky’s extensive research.

According to Friedman, university officials believe Slutsky recycled data from earlier research into new reports and named as co-authors professors and researchers who never took part in the work. In some cases, Friedman said, the names of the co-authors were misspelled.

“He had been a very successful and hard-working researcher,” Friedman said. “ . . . the individual had so many accomplishments, it is very difficult to figure out why (he) found it necessary to embroider new ones.”

Slutsky, who resigned in late April, could not be reached for comment. He has sold his house and apparently moved from San Diego. Colleagues gave conflicting accounts of his whereabouts.

Friedman said the university’s investigating committee found that one of the two published reports, based on research on dogs to test the use of steroids in treating heart attack patients, might have been misleading.

But he said neither study is believed to have affected patient care. “No one will alter clinical management of a real patient on the basis of a dog study,” he said. “It might lead one to want to do a controlled clinical study.”

Friedman said the university has asked Slutsky to retract the two articles based on allegedly fraudulent research published last spring in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Friedman said Slutsky’s lawyer has not agreed with the wording of the retraction proposed by the university. He said the university will go ahead and retract the research even if no agreement is reached.

The university also has reported its findings to several foundations that may have paid for Slutsky’s research, Friedman said. He said those include the National Institutes of Health and the American Lung Assn.

Questions about Slutsky first arose last spring when faculty members considered his application for a full-time faculty position involving teaching, clinical work and research in cardiac radiology, Friedman said.

Slutsky has published about 120 papers, many in the field of cardiac radiology, the assessment of heart function through X-rays and other techniques.

“To the distress of the people reviewing his work preparatory to writing some letters of recommendation, they found some questionable tables in one of his publications,” Friedman said. Upon closer scrutiny, the professors raised other questions, Friedman said.

Friedman said Slutsky was unable to answer the professors’ questions. They referred the results of their informal investigation to the office of the dean and a faculty committee began a formal investigation in early May.

Meanwhile, Friedman said, Slutsky submitted a letter of resignation dated April 30. Friedman said the letter stated simply that Slutsky believed it would be best if he severed his relations with the university and pursued a private practice in cardiology.

The new committee appointed for the formal investigation conducted interviews and reviewed papers and research records between May 7 and June 18, Friedman said. According to Friedman, the seven-member committee concluded unanimously that Slutsky had “fabricated or falsified many of the research findings in at least these three papers.”

Friedman said the investigating committees found no evidence of fraud on the part of researchers other than Slutsky.

Slutsky apparently based his reports on the results of earlier laboratory experiments, pretending that he had done new work, Friedman said.

Friedman and others who were willing to talk about Slutsky described him as a respected worker.

“He was very productive, very hard working, intelligent and pleasant,” said Friedman. “Everybody in the department really was fond of him. . . . This was a very unpleasant shock to his colleagues.”

A 1974 graduate of UCLA Medical School, Slutsky had done residencies at UCSD in medicine and nuclear medicine, Friedman said. Slutsky also held assistant professorships before switching into radiology, Friedman said.

As for Slutsky’s possible motives, Friedman said, “That’s really a mystery. . . . If someone is not doing too well and feels he has to cheat in order to compete, in a sense you can understand that--not condone it, but understand.

“But if someone is doing very well and is very productive and successful, then why gild the lily? Why go further? I don’t understand it.”