UCI Official Stands Behind Inquiry Target

The man who hired John C. Hiserodt at UC Irvine--and still allows him to teach there as a volunteer--said he and a seven-person faculty committee knew the cancer researcher was under federal investigation for falsifying data at a previous job but voted unanimously to appoint him anyway.

But Yutaka Kikkawa, chair of the department of pathology at UCI, said neither he nor the other professors on the committee, all employees of his department, told senior university officials of the federal probe.

“I called around, I looked into it, and John’s story sounded reasonable,” Kikkawa said. “I could understand that people made mistakes. I conveyed that message to members of the department, so he was hired.

” . . . It was our decision,” Kikkawa said. “We did not see any reason to tell anyone about it.”

A year later, federal authorities came to quite a different conclusion, finding Hiserodt, then a University of Pittsburgh Medical Center researcher, guilty of “scientific misconduct” for labeling a photograph of a rat specimen as that of a human.

As a result of the federal investigation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services barred Hiserodt from participating in federally funded cancer research projects for five years.

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By that time, Hiserodt had already been on staff at UCI, excelling as a research pathologist, a teacher and an autopsy specialist, Kikkawa said.

“When I read [the federal report], I was honestly appalled and floored by the language in it,” Kikkawa said. “It sounded like he was the worst human being in the world.”

Skeptical of the federal findings, Kikkawa said he launched his own investigation into the charges, asking Hiserodt to produce the research that had been called into question and contacting scientists around the country to determine what had happened.

Kikkawa said he concluded that the federal probe was unfair and sent the results of his investigation, along with 27 exhibits, to then-UCI Chancellor Laurel Wilkening, along with the recommendation that Hiserodt not be fired.

“Our conclusion was that John Hiserodt was careless, but we found no intentional fabrication of evidence on his part,” Kikkawa said. “We thought he ought to be given another real chance at UCI.”

The probe turned out not to be Hiserodt’s last. He is now under regulatory and criminal investigation by the Food and Drug Administration for a new offense--allegedly shipping specially treated cells believed to be cancer-fighting across state lines, in a last-ditch attempt to save the life of an 8-year-old Miami girl with a brain tumor.

By doing so, Hiserodt violated a federal law against transporting unauthorized medical treatments across state lines, a 1997 UCI inquiry determined.

The university inquiry also found that Hiserodt may have violated the directive banning him from participating in federally funded research at the university. The UCI Medical Research Center, where Hiserodt was on staff when the federal ban was imposed, is a federally designated cancer center, which means it is approved to receive federal grants.

But Kikkawa said despite the two federal investigations and the university inquiry, his faith in Hiserodt, whom he calls “not an ordinary talent, an extraordinary talent,” remains unshaken.

Indeed, Kikkawa’s belief in Hiserodt is such that he still allows the cancer researcher to teach second-year pathology students as a “volunteer,” nine months after Hiserodt resigned from the faculty because of the various investigations. Hiserodt is now vice president of research for Meyer Pharmaceuticals in Newport Beach.

“I have no regrets” about hiring Hiserodt in 1993, Kikkawa said. “He is an extremely innovative, hard-working scientist with a big heart and significant compassion. I feel he has significant potential to contribute to the welfare of mankind. I still do, and his peers do.”

Kikkawa said he believes Hiserodt’s explanation that he sent the experimental treatment to the Miami girl, Jennifer Turken, in response to the pleas of her father, and that he didn’t know he was violating the law or that he needed UCI approval before doing so.

“I asked [Hiserodt], ‘Why the hell did you do that?’ ” Kikkawa said. “He said, ‘Dr. Kikkawa, I’m a physician and I had gotten to know this Jennifer Turken. And with at least some small hope in my hands, I couldn’t stop from going to help her. I didn’t know the intricate details of the regulations. But listen, I’m a physician, and I felt for her.’ ”

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Thomas Cesario, dean of the medical school, confirmed Wednesday that Hiserodt continues to teach at UCI, and said he does not plan to take any steps to end Hiserodt’s tenure as a volunteer lecturer.

Cesario said Hiserodt’s continued participation caused some “discomfort” at the institution, but said the jury is still out on whether the researcher’s efforts to save the dying girl’s life were wrong.

“There obviously are people who feel very strongly that this person has some redeeming qualities,” Cesario said.

Hiserodt gave 12 lectures on pathology this fall, part of a required course for second-year medical students.

Cesario said Hiserodt had proved to be an effective teacher and was well-regarded by students. Plus, Hiserodt was not paid and did not have an office at the university.

“He was disciplined for what we understood he did wrong, which was research,” said Cesario. “Do you punish a person forever after?”

Cesario said more than 1,000 physicians in Orange County--nearly a quarter of the region’s doctors--volunteer time to lecture to UCI medical students every year.