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Li Wang

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According to a report by CT Insider on March 6, 2023, a respected University of Connecticut (UConn) liver disease researcher has won a $1.4 million settlement after an arbitrator found the university wrongly fired her for allegedly failing to disclose financial connections to China.

Hearst Connecticut Media uncovered the pay out, which placed Professor Li Wang sixth on a list of the state’s highest paid employees in 2022, after obtaining documents from UConn through state Freedom of Information law. UConn had not previously disclosed the payment or Wang’s expected termination publicly.

A liver physiologist with a proven ability to obtain research funding, Wang was hired by UConn in 2014 and was scheduled to be terminated on September 20, 2019. She resigned the day before her termination became effective.

Michelle Williams, UConn associate vice president for research, informed Wang in a March 2019 letter that because she did not disclose her Chinese connections on NIH grant applications she was being suspended as a researcher for three years.  The National Institutes of Health (NIH) backed UConn’s allegations and in letters to UConn officials agreed with its decisions regarding Wang.  A January 2022 letter to a top UConn official – sent several months after the arbitrator ruled against UConn - shows that Michael Lauer, NIH director for extramural research, continued to support the university's handling of Wang.

The arbitrator assigned by the American Arbitration Association to Wang’s case came to very different conclusions than the NIH and UConn in November 2021. 

The “university did not have just cause to suspend Dr. Wang’s research, just cause to terminate Dr. Wang,” arbitrator Peter Adomeit wrote in his decision. “She did not falsify any record or provide false information.”

The arbitrator ordered UConn to reinstate her to her job, provide all back pay and annual raises, return research equipment, pay operating expenses, and relocate her office to UConn Health in Farmington.

​According to a report by Inside Higher Ed on March 7, 2023, UConn told Inside Higher Ed Monday that Wang isn’t an employee and hasn’t been one since September 2019.

Professor Li Wang appears to be one of several hundred researchers who were subject to NIH allegations and investigations under the now-defunct "China Initiative."



Links and References

2023/03/07 Inside Higher Ed: Former Professor Wins $1.4M Despite Charges of Undisclosed Chinese Ties
2023/03/06 CT Insider:  UConn professor who was fired wins $1.4 million payout for wrongful termination  
                     Patch: Documents Point To $1.398 Million Settlement To Fired UConn Professor
2023/02/18 Patch: CT Highest Paid State Employees Of 2022
2018/08/30 Retraction Watch: UConn prof “recklessly” used false data in NIH grant applications, says Federal watchdog
2015/11/05 UConn Today: Physiologist in Search of a Cure Brings Research Program to UConn  
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