Harvard Reviews Conflict-of-Interest Policies

Over the course of the year, mounting criticism of Harvard's conflict-of-interest policies has prompted reviews of the guidelines governing research grants, financial investments and other commitments by Faculty members to outside companies.

Last semester, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) made several minor changes to its applicable policies, and the Harvard Medical School (HMS) is currently revising a policy that places limits on the financial involvement a professor can have with an outside firm.

The current HMS policy limits researchers to $10,000 per year in consultant fees and $20,000 worth of investment in companies that work in related fields.

The decision to review the policy for the first time in 10 years was motivated by increasing criticism that the HMS policy is too rigid in comparison to those of other universities.

In addition to regulating interactions between HMS researchers and businesses with which they are financially involved, the policy also seeks to ensure that an appropriate balance is struck between the time and energy researchers devote to Harvard and other duties.

"The whole question of reviewing the policy is to determine whether or not it is more strict than the policies of other colleges," explains HMS Professor of Surgery David H. Sachs '63.

At FAS, professors are restricted from having a financial interest in companies that sponsor research within their laboratories, and are more broadly discouraged from outside activities that will take too much time away from their work at Harvard.

Unlike at the medical school, professors within FAS say that the policy rarely needs to be enforced, and has not come under much scrutiny since last semester's changes.

Research Conflicts

Professors at both schools agree that the nature of research conducted at HMS justifies its more stringent standards, especially since clinical studies often have financial implications for outside companies.

Baird Professor of Science Gary J. Feldman, who is chair of the committee on professional conduct, says he sees two sets of concerns addressed by the HMS policy.

"One [concern] is over clinical trials, and that's something that's essentially absent at FAS," Feldman says. "Second, the size of the medical school makes it necessary to try to codify the conflict-of-interest policy."

FAS Dean for Research and Information Technology Paul C. Martin '52, who is also chair of the standing committee on research policy at FAS, says HMS' policy is designed to deal not only with faculty members, but many Harvard-affiliated hospital researchers as well.

"The medical school has to make its policies more mechanical because there are so many more people doing funded research than at FAS," Martin explains.

Peter M. Howley, chair of the HMS department of pathology, says HMS lab research is often supported by large corporations such as Smith-Kline Beecham or Glaxo Wellcome. Professors are often testing new treatments in which such firms have a vested interest.

Howley says he thinks conflict is most likely to arise in cases where a Faculty member leads research in a direction from which he or she could benefit financially or otherwise.

"What one wants to be sure of is that those individuals who are being supported by it aren't holding equity in those companies," he says.

According to Martin, FAS doesn't encounter similar concerns because it lacks these types of clinical facilities.

Most of the money received by FAS professors from for-profit companies comes in the form of gifts that have no restrictions on their use, and therefore cause little concern about conflict-of-interest.

Alan K. Long, laboratory director and director of graduate studies in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, says that the money his department's labs receive from the government comes with many pages of guidelines on its use. Grants from corporate sponsors, on the other hand, are "the best kind of money you can get--no strings attached."

Within the chemistry department, outside funding generally comes from large pharmaceutical companies such as Merck, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Hoffman-LaRoche.

Long says this kind of funding--unlike that from federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH)--rarely comes with limits on how it can be spent. For example, corporate grant money has also been used by sponsored departments to fund tuition and stipends for graduate student programs.

Because of this, FAS guidelines strive to prevent an imbalance between the time and energy a Faculty member devotes to Harvard and to other activities, rather than focusing on specific interactions with corporations.

The policy states, "Every [Faculty] member is expected to accord the University his or her primary professional loyalty, and to arrange outside obligations, financial interests, and activities so as not to conflict or interfere with this overriding commitment to the University."

According to Albert Gold, associate dean for administration in the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences (DEAS), most outside funding to his division comes from government agencies rather than corporations.

"Our research support is predominantly federally funded by agencies...such as the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the Department of Defense," Gold says. "There's probably not a department that you can name that doesn't give us some grant."

Still, some corporate technology giants like Intel and Sun Microsystems fund DEAS research--often providing no more than a single sentence designating what the money should be used for.

Because of this distinction between the types of corporate funding received by FAS and HMS researchers, medical school professors say they support the current policy as stands.

Having spent 21 years at NIH, whose conflict-of-interest policy he describes as "far more severe" than that of HMS, Sachs says the medical school's policy is appropriate.

And while some critics of the policy fear that it may be a handicap in Harvard's efforts to attract new faculty members, Howley says this should not be a concern.

"We've recruited a number of faculty within the last six years," he says. "It has never been an issue in faculty recruitment and I know of no faculty we've lost because of it."

In the Classroom

In fact, the wealth of sponsorship of research at Harvard may even help professors in their teaching, rather than causing a conflict-of-interest in the classroom.

"The research being done by the Faculty is part of their obligation to Harvard as Faculty members, it is in no sense 'outside research,'" Gold says.

According to Long, outside-funded research is rarely discussed in undergraduate classrooms, where most of the topics are well established and can be found in any textbook.

Still, he says, professors' lab experiences are cutting edge and indirectly contribute to their effectiveness as educators. "Research feeds teaching and teaching feeds research."

The FAS policy recognizes that outside research often enriches the quality of the learning instructors bring to their students and the Harvard community.

According to "Principles and Policies That Govern Your Research and Other Professional Activities," a document distributed to Faculty members, "the involvement of faculty members in outside professional activities, both public and private, often serves not only the participants but the University as a whole."

Even at HMS, Howley says, as long as professors are open with the students they teach about their outside financial interests, it is unlikely that a conflict-of-interest would arise in the classroom.

"If a professor had financial interest in the subject being taught, it would certainly be important to disclose that to the students at the beginning of the class," he adds.

The heavy hand that outside organizations play in funding research does, however, raises the common concern that professors will be unavailable to their students due to these commitments.

Elizabeth D. Chao '00, who works in the Schreiber Laboratory in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, says she believes this situation is potentially problematic for College students.

"You never meet your professors unless you make an attempt," Chao says. "But [Harvard] is a research institution, and you get used to your professors being in charge of numerous other things."

Professor of Astronomy Robert B. Kirshner '70 says that the research funded by outside organizations is necessary to preserve institutions that promote "intellectual adventure."

"This work has nothing to do with IPOs, patents or personal gain," Kirshner says. "It has everything to do with the power of ideas."