Former UW Genetics Professor Sentenced for Making False Statements in Grant Progress Report

MADISON, WI—John W. Vaudreuil, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Elizabeth B. Goodwin, Ph.D., Upton, Mass., was sentenced today before Chief U.S. District Judge William M. Conley for fraudulently submitting a grant progress report containing falsified research data.

At her plea hearing on June 25, 2010, Goodwin, who was an Associate Professor at the UW-Madison Laboratory of Genetics from 2000 until her resignation on February 23, 2006, admitted that she manipulated data in a federal grant progress report to convince reviewers that she was making more scientific progress with her research than was actually the case.

Judge Conley sentenced Goodwin to two years of probation and directed that she pay a $500 fine and restitution as follows: $50,000 to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and $50,000 to the University of Wisconsin, payable to the Chancellor’s Scholarship Program.

In addition to the sentence imposed today, Goodwin has admitted that her conduct constituted "misconduct in science" and that as a consequence, Goodwin has agreed to be voluntarily excluded for three years from any involvement in federal government research.

This charge followed an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General, with the full cooperation of the University of Wisconsin. Prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy M. O'Shea.