A former veterinary student at Tufts University has settled a $1 million lawsuit alleging that she was punished for claiming that her mentor at the school falsified data in a 2014 article.
In 2019, Kristy Meadows sued Tufts and two faculty members, Elizabeth Byrnes and Dean Joyce Knoll, whom she said retaliated against her for claiming that Byrnes cooked her results in an article Meadows and Byrnes published in Neuroscience titled “Sex- and age-specific differences in relaxin family peptide receptor expression within the hippocampus and amygdala in rats.”
According to Law360, which first reported on the settlement:
After she reported the alleged fabrication, Meadows’ stipend was cut, according to her suit. Meadows also alleged that her thesis was put on hold and that she was falsely accused of theft as part of the retaliation campaign.
She also accused a dean, Dr. Joyce Knoll, of defamation for allegedly referring to her as “antisocial and weird” in an email intended for the university’s general counsel that Knoll inadvertently sent to hundreds of Meadows’ colleagues and professors.
The Daily Beast reported in 2019 that Meadows also filed a complaint against Tufts with the U.S. Office of Research Integrity in 2017. According to the outlet, she received dual doctoral degrees from Tufts, in neuroscience and veterinary medicine, but failed to find a job in her field.
Tufts reportedly investigated Meadows’ allegation of fraud against Byrnes but could not confirm the claim.
A lawyer for Meadows did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Byrnes.
Patrick Collins, a spokesman for Tufts, told Retraction Watch the school would not “comment on or provide details around litigation,” including whether the institution investigated Meadows’ misconduct claims against Byrnes.
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Reminder that Neuroscience at Tufts was also home to Gizem Donmez, before they magically vanished her from their website when it became apparent that denying her research misconduct was not a good strategy.
“According to the outlet, Byrnes received dual doctoral degrees from Tufts, in neuroscience and veterinary medicine, but failed to find a job in her field”
I think this should be Meadows, not Byrnes?
Fixed — thanks.