Aggies vice president for research resigns after CDC investigation
Researchers at Texas A&M were infected with CDC-listed bioterrorism agents during research on bioterror defenses, but the university was slow to report mishaps; the cost is high: the university’s license to do research on select agents was pulled, and it was eliminated from list of potential hosts of national bio-defense facility
Heads roll. Texas A&M’s vice president for research resigned two days ago as the University is still awaiting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report on the researchers exposed to bioagents. Richard Ewing, who headed a federally funded program to conduct biodefense research, said in a letter to his colleagues that he is leaving the post “during a time the university is under tremendous scrutiny surrounding its select agent research program.” Ewing’s resignation comes in the wake of two CDC investigations, an indefinite ban on select agent research, and, most painfully, A&M’s elimination to host the $450 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility.
Officials with the CDC arrived on campus in April to investigate a student researcher exposed to brucella — A CDC-listed bioterrorism agent - while cleaning a lab cage. CDC officials were back on campus in June investigating three researchers exposed to Q fever, another CDC-listed bioterrorism agent.
Ewing will return to the Department of Mathematics to resume his post of tenured professor. Interim President Eddie Davis said no personnel changes were to be made until after the investigation is complete. “We’re not going to make any personnel actions or modifications until we get the review,” Davis said.
