UNM and State Pay $2.1 Million to End Whistleblower Suit Alleging Improper Practices, Possible Fraud at Cancer Research Lab
UNM tight-lipped regarding concerns raised by nationally recognized scientist that a former director of Center for Molecular Discovery, “had committed fraud by making false representations” to the National Institutes of Health regarding grant requests.
Screenshot Photos of UNM HCS Website Images.
This is a developing story – more will be published later today.
Late last month, the University of New Mexico and State of New Mexico Risk Management officials agreed to settle a whistleblower lawsuit for $2.1 million – and an agreement amongst the parties that no one say anything bad about UNM and the plaintiff who brought the suit.
That is a significant amount of state money.
In May of last year, Hakim Djaballah, Ph.D., an internationally recognized leader in biochemistry and biotechnology, filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the University of New Mexico Board of Regents and a medical leader at the university’s Health Sciences Center.
The lawsuit alleged serious problems within the Center for Molecular Discovery, a UNM lab charged with discovering “new cancer-fighting drugs for the Cancer Center to use in its research and treatment.”
It also states that Dr. Djaballah was fired by UNM officials after he informed them of concerns of potential fraud and poor laboratory practices by his predecessor.
Background.
Between 2018 and 2020, UNM officials searched for a new director of the UNM Center for Molecular Discovery (CMD), to replace retiring Dr. Larry Sklar.
UNM actively sought to recruit Dr. Djaballah as the new director of the UNM Center for Molecular Discovery (CMD) which was principally funded by UNM’s Comprehensive Cancer Center.
According to his lawsuit, Dr. Djaballah has nearly thirty-years experience in drug discovery, development and executive management.
The lawsuit states,“To many Cancer Center’s scientists, Dr. Djaballah was an ideal candidate to rebuild the CMD.”
After Dr. Djaballah was hired to lead the CMD in 2020, he was alarmed to find out how serious the situation was at the lab, including finding out that his predecessor “had falsely represented to NIH [National Institutes of Health] that CMD maintained an electronic database, and that funding was required to compensate a particular CMD scientist to manage it.”
The lawsuit claims that “many in the Cancer Center were also concerned the CMD had been employing poor laboratory practices, such as by failing to keep comprehensive records and allowing the lab space to become a total mess, cluttered with old equipment.”
(Copies of the Settlement Agreement, Original Complaint and the UNM Board of Regents’ Answer to Dr. Djaballah’s Whistleblower Lawsuit can be found at the end of this article.)
Dr. Djaballah also claimed in his lawsuit that he was “concerned that Dr. Sklar had committed fraud by making false representations to NIH in those grant requests, and that CMD’s poor data management practices violated NIH’s grant awards’ terms.”
After months of bringing his concerns to Dr. Nancy Joste, MD (interim chair of the Department of Pathology of UNM Health Sciences Center, and Dr. Richard Larson, MD, PhD, the Vice President of Research at UNM HSC, Dr. Djaballah’s employment was terminated by the Pathology Department of HSC.
According to the litigation, Cancer Center officials reportedly were shocked by the decision of HSC to end Dr. Djaballah’s employment, with one professor writing “to a vice president of research that, UNM was very lucky to hire him. Dr. Djaballah has an exceptional reputation, and he [was] well positioned to transform the CMD. The CMD has unfortunately been in a slow decline and was in complete disarray upon the arrival of Dr. Djaballah.
The same professor, who had helped recruit Dr. Djaballah, continued, “From my perspective, I had witnessed Dr. Djaballah reinvigorate the CMD, and I was extremely hopeful that the CMD could return to national prominence.”
Other professors, researchers, and Cancer Center officials expressed dismay at Djaballah’s firing, with one writing his dismissal “severly harms, if not fully eliminates, the drug discovery programs and infrastructure in the UNM Health Sciences Center.”
Despite denying the concerns and claims identified in the whistleblower’s suit, the University of New Mexico, and the Risk Management Division of the State of New Mexico agreed to pay a combined total of $2.1 million “to avoid the time, expense, and uncertainties of litigation.”
Yesterday afternoon, The Candle reached out to a UNM HSC’s communications official seeking a comment regarding the decision to end the litigation by paying $2.1 million to Dr. Djaballah, and, among other things, agreeing to the “non-disparagement” clause.
The UNM communication official wrote in a text, “Thanks for reaching out. I’m not familiar with this case, but I’ll begin researching it now.”
He was informed that we would be publishing a story within “an hour or so,” to which he stated he didn’t “think one hour is a fair or reasonable time to respond.”
The Candle decided to wait until this morning to publish this story.
The Candle also wrote that we would include any appropriate statement from UNM in the follow up reporting we expect to do on this story.
So far, The Candle has not received any further response from UNM officials.
Note: On Wednesday, October 16, 2024, The Candle received the following response to our request for a comment from the UNM HSC regarding the Djaballah complaint and settlement:
“The University of New Mexico is committed to compliance with its obligations to ensure integrity in all of its research areas. We understand Dr. Djaballah made certain allegations in his complaint. We also understand that the University of New Mexico filed an answer in response to those allegations, which is a matter of public record. Nothing in the settlement agreement constitutes an admission by the University of New Mexico that Dr. Djaballah’s are true; in fact, the settlement agreement signed Dr. Djaballah states just that. Beyond that, we have no further comment.”
The non-disparagement clause in the settlement agreement states:
“Dr. Djaballah and UNM agree not to disparage each other verbally or in writing to third parties regarding the factual circumstances and claims leading to the filing of Dr. Djaballah’s lawsuit and/or statements that were given and positions taken regarding Dr. Djaballah’s Complaint. Dr. Djaballah understands and agrees that he will not directly or indirectly, make or cause to be made any disparaging remarks about or refer negatively to UNM including any related affiliates and their Regents, administrators, agents and employees, the UNMHSC, the SOM, the Department of Neurosurgery and the Center for Molecular Discovery and any member of its
faculty and staff, Drs. Nancy Joste, or Dr. Larry Sklar. Notwithstanding anything in this paragraph, Dr. Djaballah will be permitted to explain his departure from UNM to prospective employers in a manner that does not disparage specific former colleagues or the UNMHSC.”
Copy of Settlement Agreement to Original Whistleblower Complaint Filed by Dr. Hakim Djaballah Against UNM Board of Regents
Original Whistleblower Complaint Filed by Dr. Hakim Djaballah Against UNM Board of Regents
UNM Answer to Original Whistleblower Complaint Filed by Dr. Hakim Djaballah Against UNM Board of Regents