Thanks to the efforts of fellows, especially those on FelCom, the Medical Executive Committee (namely Melinda Merchant, the MEC representative), and HSRAC, the Conflict of Interest rules have been changed as follows:

Clinical and research fellows have been granted an exception to the newly promulgated prohibited holdings rule with the following exceptions:

---those who file an OGE 450 confidential financial disclosure report

---those who stay beyond four years will still have be held to the rules.

* IRTAs, CRTAs and Visiting Fellows are not employees and are not subject to the rule.

Also: NIH fellows will not be required to divest all of their holdings in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device companies or the like, and will not be held to the $15,000 limit with respect to these investments. However, they will be required to report all stock holdings in these types of companies so that these financial interests can be evaluated for specific conflicts of interest with their assigned activities at the NIH. Thus, on a case-by-case basis, a fellow may be required to divest particular assets that are determined to potentially conflict with their official duties.

Suggestions | 14 Jan 2003