Dr. Richard Marceau, Memorial’s vice-president (research), has responded to a request for information from the British Medical Journal (BMJ) about the case of Dr. R.K. Chandra.

Dr. Chandra is a former faculty member at Memorial’s Faculty of Medicine.

The BMJ said it has been investigating Dr. Chandra’s research since 2000.

In an editorial published Oct. 28, 2015, the BMJ states that it has retracted an article written by Dr. Chandra and published in 1989.

Dr. Marceau said Memorial University is confident that its current policies and procedures for preventing, investigating and, if necessary, punishing research misconduct meet the highest possible national standards.

“Memorial University has established a number of policies and procedures that ensure the highest standards of ethical conduct and scholarly integrity are understood and practiced,” he said.  A selection of these policies are outlined in the letter to the BMJ.

“The concerns raised by BMJ over the years in relation to Dr. Chandra's research underscores the importance of strong institutional processes for addressing allegations of research misconduct,” he said. “We are confident those processes have been put in place at Memorial.”

Dr. Marceau said he regrets that Memorial did not partner with the BMJ to achieve a timely and effective response to the journal’s concerns. He added that the university wishes to be as helpful as it can in addressing events that occurred more than 25 years ago in connection with a faculty member who left the university more than a decade ago.

Read Memorial’s response to the editors of the BMJ.