Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-06-17)

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BloombergBusinessweek June 17, 2019

ineffectshestoodaccusedofsecretly

aidingandabetting cancerresearch in

China,anun-Americanactivityintoday’s

politicalclimate.She’dspent 27 of her

56 yearsatMDAnderson.Amonthafter

resigning,sheleftherhusbandandtwokids

intheU.S.andtooka jobasdeanofa school

ofpublichealthinShanghai.

Thisis thefirstdetailedaccountofwhat

happenedtoWu.Shedeclinedtobeinter-

viewedforthisarticle,citinga pendingcom-

plaintshe’sfiledwiththeU.S.EqualEmploymentOpportunity

Commission.Herstoryis basedoninterviewsanddocuments

providedby 14 Americancolleaguesandfriendsandrecords

obtainedthroughtheTexasPublicInformationAct.

HistorianswillhavetosortoutwhetherWu’sstoryandoth-

erslikeit markeda turningpointwhenU.S.researchinstitu-

tionsgotseriousaboutChina’savariceforAmericanintellectual

property,ora dangerouslurchdownthepathofparanoiaand

racialprofiling.Orboth.Inanycase,recenteventsinHouston

andelsewhereindicatethatChinesepeopleinAmerica,includ-

ingU.S.citizens,arenowtargetedforFBIsurveillance.

I

n anAprilspeechinNewYork,FBIDirectorChristopher

WraydescribedthereasonforthescrutinyofethnicChinese

scientists.“Chinahaspioneereda societalapproachto

stealinginnovationinanywayit canfroma widearrayofbusi-

nesses,universities,andorganizations,”hetoldtheCouncilon

ForeignRelations.Everyone’sinonit,Wraysaid:China’sintelli-

genceservices;itsstate-ownedandwhathecalled“ostensibly”

privateenterprises;andthe130,000Chinesegraduatestudents

andresearcherswhoworkandstudyintheU.S.everyyear.

“Putplainly,Chinaseemsdeterminedtostealitswayupthe

economicladderatourexpense.”

Wray’srhetorichascauseddeepanxietyintheChinese

Americancommunity,“becausesomanyhavebeenques-

tionedbytheFBI,”saysRepresentativeJudyChu,theCalifornia

DemocratwhochairstheCongressionalAsianPacificAmerican

Caucus.“I’mveryconcernedaboutwhetherthisultimately

leadstoanerosionofChineseAmericans’civilrights.”

WugraduatedfrommedicalschoolinShanghaiandearned

herPh.D.in 1994 fromtheUniversityofTexasSchoolofPublic

HealthinHouston.ShejoinedMDAnderson while a gradu-

ate student and gained renown for creating several so-called

study cohorts with data amassed from hundreds of thousands

of patients in Asia and the U.S. The cohorts, which combine

patient histories with personal biomarkers such as DNA char-

acteristics and treatment descriptions, outcomes, and even life-

style habits, are a gold mine for researchers. (Some examples

of the use of cohorts: Wu and her team showed that Mexican

Americans who sleep less than six hours a night had a higher

risk of cancer than Mexican Americans who get more sleep,

and that eating charred meat such as barbecue raised the risk

of kidney cancer.) In 2011, Wu leapfrogged over older colleagues

and was named epidemiology chair, making her the top-ranked

epidemiologist at the nation’s top-ranked

cancer center.

Along the way, Wu developed close

tieswithresearchersandcancercenters

inChina.Shewasencouragedtodosoby

MDAnderson. The center’s president in the

early2000s,JohnMendelsohn,launchedan

initiativetopromoteinternationalcollabora-

tions.InChina,MDAnderson forged “sister”

relationships with five major cancer centers,

cooperatingonscreeningprograms,clini-

caltrials,andbasicresearchstudies.DozensofethnicChinese

facultymembersatMDAndersonparticipated,eagertovisit

familyandfriendsandcontributetheirexpertisetoaddress-

ingChina’senormousburdenofabout4.3millionnewcan-

cercasesa year.In2015,ChinaawardedMDAnderson its top

honor for international scientific cooperation, in a ceremony

attended by President Xi Jinping.

Wu was a model collaborator. She attended Chinese

medical conferences, hosted visiting Chinese professors in

Houston, and published 87 research papers with co-authors

from 26 Chinese institutions. In all, she has co-authored some

540 papersthathavebeencitedabout 23,000 times in scien-

tificliterature.(Herpapersarealleasilyretrievablewitha few

clicksonMDAnderson’swebsite.)

“MDAnderson was very much an open door. The mission

was ‘End cancer in Texas, America, and the world,’ ” says Oliver

Bogler, the cancer center’s senior vice president for academic

affairs from 2011 to 2018 and now chief operating officer of the

ECHO Institute at the University of New Mexico.

The globalization of science, in particular basic science, has

been sweeping. “Faculty don’t see international borders any-

more,” says Adam Kuspa, dean of research at Baylor College

of Medicine in Houston. “If someone in another country has a

pieceofthepuzzle,theywanttoworkwiththem.”Relationships

oftenbeginatacademicconferences,jellduringinvitedvisits

forsymposiumsorlectureships,andculminateinthemeld-

ingofresearchintoscientificpapers.Since 2010 theNIHitself

hasofferedabout$5milliona yearinspecialgrantsforU.S.-

Chinacollaborations,with20%goingtocancerresearch,and

a counterpartinChinahaspitchedinanadditional$3million

a year.Thejointprojectshaveproduceda numberofhigh-

impact papers on cancer, according to an internal NIH review.

For Kirk Smith, a professor at the University of California

at Berkeley who studies the health effects of air pollution, the

benefits of collaboration have been surprising. He never imag-

ined, back in the 1980s when he started researching Chinese

air pollution with Chinese scientists, that one day his col-

leagues would become influential policymakers at home.

Inthe past six years, Smith’s partners have pushed through MAY ZHOU/CHINA DAILY

The contest is being waged, on China’s side, by the “whole of society,”

the FBI director said, and the U.S. needs its own whole-of-society response

Wu in her former office at MD Anderson