---
title: "List of scientific misconduct incidents"
chunk: 2/9
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scientific_misconduct_incidents"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:24:57.942917+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

== Biology and biomedical sciences ==
Bharat Aggarwal (US), a former Ransom Horne, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Cancer Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, resigned from his position after fraud was discovered in 65 papers published by him in the area of curcumin as a treatment for cancer. As of 2024 Aggarwal has had 30 of his research papers retracted, with 10 others having received an expression of concern and 17 others having been corrected. Anna Ahimastos (Australia) resigned from her position at Melbourne's Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute in 2015 after admitting to fabricating data in a trial of the blood pressure drug ramipril that analyzed if ramipril could reduce pain in people with peripheral artery disease. As of 2025, Ahimastos has had nine of their research publications retracted. Elias Alsabti (Iraq, US), was a medical practitioner who posed as a biomedical researcher. He plagiarized as many as 60 papers in the field of cancer research, many with non-existent co-authors. Werner Bezwoda (South Africa), formerly of the University of Witwatersrand, admitted to scientific misconduct in trials on high-dose chemotherapy on breast cancer, stating that he had "committed a serious breach of scientific honesty and integrity."
Joachim Boldt (Germany), an anesthesiologist formerly based at the Justus Liebig University Giessen, was stripped of his professorship and criminally investigated for forgery in his research studies. As of 2024, Boldt has had 220 of his research publications retracted, and 10 others have received an expression of concern. C. David Bridges (US), an emeritus researcher at Purdue University and formerly at Baylor College of Medicine, was found by a NIH investigation panel to have stolen ideas from a rival's manuscript that Bridges had been asked to review, and used that information to produce and publish his own research on eye enzymes. The investigating panel described Bridges' conduct as "an egregious misconduct of science that undermines the entire concept and practice of scientific experimentation and ethical responsibility", with NIH later stripping Bridges of his funding. Silvia Bulfone-Paus (Germany, UK), an immunologist at the Research Center Borstel and a professor of immunobiology at the University of Manchester, has had 13 of her publications retracted following investigations of scientific misconduct involving image manipulation. Cyril Burt (UK) was accused posthumously of faking statistics in I.Q. studies, and of inventing two co-authors in questionable papers he had published. Ranjit Chandra (Canada), former nutrition researcher at Memorial University of Newfoundland and self-proclaimed "father of nutritional immunology", was in 2015 stripped of his Order of Canada membership following accusations of scientific wrongdoing in his research. In 2015 Chandra lost a $132 million case against the CBC, which in 2006 presented a documentary in which 10 of Chandra's publications were identified as "fraudulent or highly suspicious"; Chandra was ordered to pay the CBC $1.6 million to cover the defendant's legal fees. As of 2020 four of Chandra's research publications have been retracted. Ching-Shih Chen (US), the former chair of cancer research at Ohio State University, was investigated by OSU and the federal Office of Research Integrity after being anonymously reported for falsifying data. The investigation found that Chen mishandled images and figures in published papers, "intentionally falsified data", and did not keep any laboratory notebooks on his research, a violation of federal research policies. As of 2024 Chen has had ten research publications retracted, two other papers have received an expression of concern, and five other papers have been corrected. Lorenza Colzato (Italy, Netherlands), a former Leiden University researcher, was found in 2022 to have conducted fraud in at least 15 published studies, including making changes to the research design, adding control groups afterward, and omitting data. Colzato was first accused of fraud in 2019, when she was found to have illegally withdrawn blood from test subjects and had two of her publications retracted as a result. As of 2023 Colzato has had eight of her research publications retracted and two others have received an expression of concern. Carlo M. Croce (US), an oncologist and professor of medicine at Ohio State University, has been the subject of several allegations of scientific misconduct, including data falsification, and related institutional investigations. Croce, who has been described as a "serial plaintiff", has filed lawsuits against critics, including a defamation claim against The New York Times that in 2018 was dismissed, a defamation lawsuit he lost against David Sanders of Purdue University and a lawsuit he lost against Ohio State University to reclaim a department chair position from which he was removed. As of 2024, 15 of Croce's research publications have been retracted, five others have received an expression of concern, and 23 others have been corrected. Andrew Jess Dannenberg (US), a physician and cancer researcher formerly associated with Weill Medical College at Cornell University, had several of his published papers retracted in 2020 due to irregularities in the figures, and in 2022 additional publications were retracted due to "evidence of data falsification or fabrication." As of 2023 Dannenberg has had 20 of his research publications retracted, with two other publications receiving an expression of concern. John Darsee (US), a cardiologist formerly based at Harvard University, fabricated data in published research articles and more than 100 abstracts and book chapters. In 1983 Darsee was disbarred for ten years by the US National Institutes of Health. Darsee has had at least 17 of his publications retracted. Dipak Das (US), former director of the Cardiovascular Research Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center, was found in a University investigation to be guilty of 145 counts of fabrication or falsification of research data. As of 2023, Das has had 23 of his research publications retracted. Masoumeh Ebtekar (Iran), head of the Iranian Department of Environment at Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran, substantially plagiarized several previously published articles in a 2006 paper that was later retracted. Terry Elton (US), Professor of Pharmacology at Ohio State University, was found guilty in 2013 of scientific misconduct by both a University committee and the Office of Research Integrity. Elton has had seven of his publications retracted. Yoshitaka Fujii (Japan), an anesthesiologist, was found to have fabricated data in at least 183 scientific papers, setting what is believed to be a record for the number of papers by a single author requiring retractions. A committee reviewing 212 papers published by Fujii over a span of 20 years found that 126 were entirely fabricated, with no scientific work done. Only 3 were found to be valid. He was also found to have forged the signatures of scientists he listed as co-authors without their knowledge. As of 2023, Fujii has had 182 of their research publications retracted, and 47 others have received an expression of concern. Dong-Pyou Han (US), former assistant professor of biomedical sciences at Iowa State University, added human antibodies to samples of rabbit blood in an effort to falsely enhance the utility of an experimental HIV vaccine. In 2015 Han was sentenced to nearly five years in prison and ordered to return $7.2 million to the NIH. Elizabeth Holmes, biotech entrepreneur and founder of the medical diagnostic company Theranos, was convicted for fraud and in November 2022 sentenced to serve 111⁄4 years in prison.