Notwithstanding the closed-door policy of the outside panel that advises the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Labarthe told the NHLBI director he intended to hear for himself what this august group of scientific and community leaders thought about his research project, which they had already turned down once. And, Labarthe said, he had the law on his side.
It was the first time in the memory of anyone at the heart institute, or the NIH general counsel's office, that a scientist had attempted to attend the closed segment of one of the council's quarterly meetings. The major portion of these meetings, when general policy issues are being discussed, is open to the public. Although Labarthe ended up not attending the session, his request raised questions in the minds of institute officials about their ability to protect the privacy of the up to 300 other grant applicants whose proposals appear ...
