NIH Scientist Pleads Guilty

Pearson (Trey) Sunderland III pled guilty on Dec. 8 to charges that he committed a conflict-of-interest violation by improperly accepting nearly $300,000 in consulting fees and other expenses from the drug company Pfizer. The former chief of the now-disbanded Geriatric Psychiatry Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health avoided a possible one-year prison term by accepting a plea agreement.

In entering his plea, Sunderland admitted to accepting consulting fees and travel expenses from Pfizer without getting prior permission from the National Institutes of Health or disclosing it to the agency. The research involved dealt with the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease.

As part of the agreement, Sunderland will face two years of probation, will be forced to forfeit the $300,000 of income and expense reimbursements stemming from his inappropriate consulting activities, and will have to do 400 hours of community service. In addition, he will also be fined an amount to be determined at his sentencing on Dec. 22.

The guilty plea comes two years after conflict-of-interest allegations first surfaced concerning NIH scientists. Since that time, Congress has held several hearings dealing with ethics at NIH. For its part, NIH instituted tougher new conflict-of-interest rules that, among other things, ban consulting with drug companies.