The Emory University psychiatry researcher who failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in pharmaceutical company payouts while receiving millions of dollars in funding from the National Institutes of Health to study the company's anti-depressant drugs is leaving the university, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Charles Nemeroff, a renowned depression researcher, failed to disclose to Emory approximately $800,000 in payments he received from drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) while he was the principal investigator (PI) on a multi-million dollar grant from the NIH to study five GSK antidepressants. Amid an investigation conducted by Emory, Nemeroff stepped down from his position as chairman of the psychiatry department last October. Later that month, the psychiatrist stepped down as PI from the $9.3 million NIH grant as the Senate probed his failure to disclose income from GSK, and the NIH froze funding on the five-year grant.

Emory officials told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Nemeroff had not officially submitted his resignation as of last Friday (30th October), but that they were contacted by the institution that is hiring Nemeroff. They did not disclose what institution that was, but said that the university would issue an official announcement regarding Nemeroff's departure sometime today (2nd November). Ed Silverman over at the Pharmalot blog reported last week that the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine would be Nemeroff's new home, citing "sources familiar with the school."


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