Profession
Dr. Hwang Woo-Suk no longer "supreme"
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted April 17, 2006
The South Korean stem-cell researcher who fooled the scientific world into believing he had discovered a way to clone human embryos has been stripped of his title of "supreme scientist," according to Agence France Presse. Hwang Woo-Suk was the first person to be so dubbed by the South Korea's Ministry of Science and Technology.
But this year, Dr. Hwang was fired from his veterinary science post at Seoul National University after an expert university panel concluded that he faked the research for two groundbreaking papers in the journal Science. The "supreme scientist" title, while honorary, also brought with it millions of dollars in government funding. Prosecutors are investigating if Dr. Hwang and other researchers on his team might have defrauded the government.
The panel, though, did conclude Dr. Hwang created the world's first cloned dog, Snuppy.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/04/17/prbf0417.htm.
