Walter F. DeNino is a medical student and obesity researcher. DeNino is also known as the whistleblower who brought the frauds of Eric Poehlman to light in 2004, when he (DeNino) filed allegations at the University of Vermont that led to a federal false-claims suit and Department of Justice investigation against Poehlman for misrepresentations made to the National Institutes of Health.

The US government secured $180,000 from Poehlman as repayment for the falsifications to the NIH; DeNino is to receive $16,000 to cover his legal fees. Poehlman admitted wrong-doing and plead guilty to a felony charge. In a precedent-setting case, he has been banned for life from receiving federal funds for research in both the United States and Canada and will serve over one year in federal prison.

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Quotes

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• "I was shocked when I discovered Dr Poehlman's activity. He and his lawyers attacked my character."

• "I could not escape the fact that a powerful, respected scientist was obviously struggling to explain his actions by layering lie upon lie," said DeNino.

• "There's a fair amount of vindication but a sense of responsibility for this," he said. "I brought these allegations. Although I don't regret what I did, sometimes it's hard to grasp the gravity of it all. All of science will be affected by this."

• DeNino, now 28 and a post-graduate student at Columbia University in New York City, said he considers his long fight ''an accomplishment for the process that is in place to ensure that truth in science is preserved."

• "Funding should be appropriated to those who deserve it," he said.

Whistleblowers