Allegations of Conflict of Interest Surround Congressman's Defense of NIH

Family Ties to the Agency Under Scrutiny

Representative Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), a staunch defender of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), finds himself in a potentially compromising position. His parents have deep connections to the embattled agency, raising questions about a possible conflict of interest.

During a House Energy and Commerce Committee markup, Auchincloss argued against cuts to the NIH proposed by the Trump administration. He championed "curiosity-driven peer-reviewed basic research," stating it shouldn't be subject to political scrutiny. However, his father, Hugh Auchincloss, served as an aide to NIAID Director Anthony Fauci for 16 years and even acted as NIAID's director from 2022 to 2023.

A Father's Emails and the Wuhan Lab

The elder Auchincloss's name surfaced in 2021 through Freedom of Information Act requests filed by BuzzFeed News. Emails revealed discussions within Fauci's inner circle, including Hugh Auchincloss, about NIAID-supported research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology as early as February 2020 – months before such connections became public knowledge.

These emails show Hugh Auchincloss assisting Fauci in gathering information about why the Wuhan lab's coronavirus research hadn't undergone more rigorous protocols, even as Fauci publicly downplayed the lab leak theory.

A Mother's Retracted Research

Adding another layer to the story, the congressman's mother, Laurie H. Glimcher, former president and CEO of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, has faced scrutiny for scientific irregularities. Multiple papers she co-authored, all supported by NIH funding, have been flagged for issues including image manipulation, ultimately leading to retractions and corrections, even in prestigious journals like Science.

One retraction notice, concerning a paper published in Science, cited "discrepancies" in figures, leading authors to lose confidence in their conclusions.

The Congressman's Defense and the NIH's Turmoil

While the House committee markup focused on its oversight plan for the 119th Congress, Auchincloss used the opportunity to criticize actions taken by the Department of Government Efficiency under Elon Musk, actions that have drawn criticism from some within the scientific community.

These actions included a 15% cap on administrative overhead for NIH grants (a move challenged in court), layoffs of probationary employees, and a temporary pause on the evaluation of new extramural grants.

Lab Leak Concerns Within the NIAID

Internal NIAID emails reveal a sense of urgency surrounding the connection to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Just hours after learning of potential genetic engineering signatures in the novel coronavirus, Fauci contacted Hugh Auchincloss, labeling the email "IMPORTANT."

Fauci tasked Auchincloss with investigating whether the research had undergone proper scrutiny by the Potential Pandemic Pathogens Committee, which it hadn't.

"The only tasks I recall were reading the paper and trying to understand it and what kind of review we had done of it," Hugh Auchincloss stated in a transcribed interview.

Further Retractions and a Scientific Sleuth

Laurie Glimcher's departure from Dana-Farber coincided with revelations of manipulated images in numerous papers she co-authored, uncovered by scientific sleuth Sholto David. These discoveries resulted in multiple retractions and corrections.

David, commenting on the situation, remarked, "Scientists often lay claim to their colleagues’ successes but never take responsibility for their fraud and failures. There’s been little introspection to understand what’s gone wrong."