51BloombergBusinessweek June 17, 2019
Yeta weekafterthatarticleappeared,WuemailedRuijin
Hospital’spresidenttosayshecouldn’taccepttheappointment
beforeclearingit withMDAnderson’sconflict-of-interestcom-
mittee.Twelvedayslater,sheemailedhima draftconsulting
contractthatspecifiedthepactwassubjecttoallrulesandreg-
ulationsofMDAnderson,includingthoserelatedtointellec-
tualproperty.“Ifyouagree,I willsubmitit toourinstitution
forreview,”Wuwrote.TheChinesehospitaldidagree,andshe
submittedthedraftcontracttoMDAnderson.Sheneverheard
backfromtheconflict-of-interestpanelbeforeresigning.
Weberdidn’tmentioneitheremailinhisreport.Wuwas
placedonunpaidleavependingdisciplinaryaction,including
possibletermination.ShequitonJan.15.Wudidn’texerciseher
righttochallengeWeber’sfindingsata facultyhearing,Peyton
said.“Subsequentprotestationsofinnocenceareunfortunate.”
Weberdidn’trespondtoa requestforaninterview.
Tofriendsandmanycolleagues,Wu’scaserepresentsover-
kill.Therewasnoevidence,andnoaccusation,thatshe’dgiven
Chinaanyproprietaryinformation,whateverthattermmight
meanincancerepidemiology.Sheshouldhavebeengiventhe
chancetocorrectherdisclosureswithoutpunishment,hersup-
porterssay.“Innocentyetmeaningfulscientificcollaborations
havebeenportrayedassomehowcorruptanddetrimentalto
Americaninterests.Nothingcouldbefurtherfromthetruth,”
saysRandyLegerski,a retiredvicechairofMDAnderson’s
genetics department and former chair of its faculty senate. Adds
Goldman of George Washington: “The only thing we’ve lost to
China is our investment in Xifeng Wu.”
In an interview, Pisters wouldn’t comment on any of the five
investigations of Chinese researchers, but said MD Anderson
had to act to protect its NIH funding, which reached $148 mil-
lion last year. The cancer center has a “social responsibility”
to taxpayers and its donors to protect its intellectual property
from any country trying “to take advantage of everything that
is aspirational and outstanding in America,” he said.
O
n a Saturday this March, about 150 ethnic Chinese
scientists and engineers packed a University of
Chicago conference room for a panel discus-
sion titled, “The New Reality Facing Chinese Americans.”
Speakers from the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office assured
everyone that multiple layers of government review ensure
agents follow the law, not prejudices.
Panelist Brian Sun, partner-in-charge of the Los Angeles
office of Jones Day, shot back that prosecutors’ inflammatory
rhetoric in Chinese spying cases has repeatedly stoked public
fear, only to have prosecutions collapse. The audience gasped
when he described the failed espionage indictment of National
Weather Service hydrologist Sherry Chen, who was charged
in 2014 withaccessingdataonU.S.damstogiveChina.At
one point prosecutors said the information could possibly be
used during wartime to cause mass murder by blowing up the
embankments. It turned out that federal investigators knew
Chen had legitimate work reasons to retrieve the dam infor-
mation, and she never passed any of it to China.
“That’s the kind of shit we deal with,” Sun said. “Don’t rush
to judgment, and do your homework before you charge.”
Nancy Chen, a retired federal employee, closed the meet-
ing by raising the unspoken dread in a room full of schol-
ars familiar with the long history of U.S. laws and executive
orders aimed at Asian immigrants. “The greatest fear is that
historymayrepeatitselfinthispoliticalclimate,andChinese
AmericansmayberoundeduplikeJapaneseAmericansduring
WorldWarII,” she said. “The fear and worry is real.”
TheFBIagentthankedChenforhercommentsandsaidthe
“atmospheric”informationis alwaysgoodtoknow.
Sofar,MDAnderson and Emory University, which fired two
Chinese American professors in May, are the only U.S. research
institutions known to have parted company with multiple sci-
entists over alleged breaches of NIH disclosure rules. The
University of Wisconsin at Madison rebuffed an FBI request
for computer files of a Chinese American engineering profes-
sor without a subpoena, according to a person familiar with
the matter. Yale, Stanford, and Berkeley, among other insti-
tutions,havepublishedlettersofsupportforChinesefaculty
membersandresearchcollaborations.“Anautomaticsuspicion
ofpeople based on their national origin can lead to terrible con-
sequences,”wroteBerkeleyChancellorCarolChristinFebruary.
Baylor College of Medicine, located next door to
MDAnderson at Houston’s Texas Medical Center, received NIH
inquiries about four faculty members. It didn’t punish any-
one, but used the opportunity to correct past disclosure lapses
and educate faculty members about more rigorous enforce-
ment going forward, says Kuspa, the school’s research dean.
Local FBI activity has rattled enough nerves already, he says.
“Chinese scientists have come to me shaking.”
After attending several FBI briefings on the China threat,
Kuspa wonders if the bureau understands how long and pains-
taking cancer research is. It can take two decades from discov-
ery of a promising molecule to approval of a chemotherapy
drug. Even then, progress in cancer treatment is measured
in months of life, seldom in years. How much basic cancer
researchcouldChinareallysteal?
“IjokewithmybossafterthoseFBImeetings,‘Darn,I
guesstheChinesearegoingtocurecancer.I’llbuythatpill,’”
Kuspa says. “Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do—educate
the entire world to have a fact-based approach to health?” <BW>
�With Lydia Mulvany and Selina Wang“Innocent yet meaningful scientific collaborations have
been portrayed as somehow corrupt and detrimental to
American interests. Nothing could be further from the truth”