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Date:  September 14, 1995
For Release:  Immediately
Contact:  Bill Grigg, PHS (202) 690-6867

Kerr was found by the Office of Research Integrity to have fabricated the dates of examinations and the results of laboratory tests to ensure the eligibility of one woman seeking to enter the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial of the drug tamoxifen, and also to have fabricated laboratory results and falsified dates of laboratory tests used to follow the progress of another woman in the trial.

Kerr's hearing was to have been before the HHS Departmental Appeals Board. Her withdrawal of the appeal means that the administrative actions recommended by the ORI will be implemented. As a result, both Kerr and Barbara Jones, also a former data coordinator at St. Mary's, will be prohibited from serving in any advisory capacity to the PHS for three years. In addition, the administrative actions require a plan for careful supervision of any involvement by Kerr or Jones in PHS-supported research during the next three years.

Jones did not appeal the findings against her.

In a ruling on a procedural matter before Kerr's withdrawal, the Departmental Appeals Board confirmed ORI's jurisdiction over individuals and institutions outside the United States who participate in Public Health Service-funded research projects, and data managers, such as Kerr, who participate in research projects but who may not consider themselves full-fledged scientists or researchers.

The findings of scientific misconduct will not change the overall results of the study of the drug tamoxifen as a breast cancer preventative. The questioned data at St. Mary's will be excluded before any findings are reported.

Kerr and Jones were the only individuals found responsible for the falsified and fabricated information.