ST. LOUIS - Washington University Medical School said orthopedic surgeon Dr. Timothy R. Kuklo "has agreed to voluntarily resign" from the university after being accused by U.S. Army officials of falsifying data in a clinical study.
Kuklo, a former Army surgeon, did the study of a Medtronic Inc. bone-growth product called Infuse that Army officials said was based on falsified information. Kuklo's study was published in 2008 but was later retracted by the British journal that published it.
Medtronic, which paid him as a consultant nearly $800,000 over the past three years until early this year, said Kuklo is on "inactive status" as a consultant. The company said it isn't involved in the study that was called into question. Kuklo didn't return a call for comment.
Formerly a surgeon at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., Kuklo joined Washington University's faculty in August 2006. The university has said it discovered, on university computers used by Kuklo, "extensive personal health information" of soldiers treated at Walter Reed. Federal law governs the privacy of such medical records, and the Department of Justice now is investigating the case.
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