Better late than never. The scientists and technicians of the largest cancer research center in the country have woken up to the deep crisis that the center is experiencing and have written a manifesto in which they publicly express their “indignation at the situation in which” the National Cancer Research Center finds itself ().
“It is an unprecedented gesture of unity,” one of the chief promoters of this reaction explains to this newspaper, which has been supported by the majority of the organization’s senior scientific officials and by a large part of the staff dedicated to research, he assures. This Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. they will demonstrate at the main door of the organization to show their concern about a “prolonged period of crisis that could be projecting a public image that does not represent” their work, according to the document.
The new movement arises after the CNIO has fallen into a deep crisis that emerged at the end of last year and that took down its top officials, the scientific director María Blasco and the manager Juan Arroyo. Accusations of, among other issues, weighed on the first. Both had been in their positions for more than a decade and had a declared confrontation that was leading the center to a situation of unprecedented paralysis. These dismissals did not resolve the crisis. Now the focus has been placed on an alleged plot of rigged contracts delivered to friendly companies that could have defrauded some 20 million euros from the center’s coffers, according to a report presented to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office by a former director of the center who has been fired with a disciplinary file.
This Tuesday, the center’s board unanimously agreed to eliminate the current position of former manager Juan Arroyo as vice director of economic affairs, and that of two other senior managers very close to him: the general secretary, with Laura Muñoz at the helm, and the deputy to management, , as . Furthermore, the current manager, José Manual Bernabé, appointed to revive the center and clarify any irregular acts, has presented his own report to the Prosecutor’s Office on what happened to the CNIO accounts in recent years. It is an unprecedented situation since the creation of the center in 1998 as the flagship of cancer research in Spain. The cleanup has been proposed by the current manager and accepted by all members of the center’s board of trustees, which includes members of the Government, four autonomous communities governed by the PP and three private employers.
“We fully trust that the new management and scientific leadership will promote a stage characterized by transparency and the protection of the public interest,” says the manifesto in reference to Bernabé and Raúl Rabadán, who has been appointed scientific director, but not yet confirmed, something that is expected for the beginning of next year, as he must end current commitments with Columbia University, where he worked until now.
“We want society to know that the CNIO research community has continued to work with the same dedication as always, and that we will not allow practices unrelated to science to cloud our work or the mission that moves us. Our work is based on rigor, integrity and absolute commitment to the CNIO’s mission: to advance the knowledge of cancer and contribute to the well-being of society. Any irregularity or lack of transparency directly contravenes this purpose and erodes the trust placed in our institution,” the manifesto adds.
Scientists are trying to disassociate themselves from the alleged illegalities perpetrated at the center for years. One of their demands is that everything that has happened at the CNIO be known.
“We demand transparent and responsible management. An environment where management is clear, efficient and honest is the only possible way to do quality science,” they warn. “The CNIO is an international benchmark thanks to its scientific and technical staff. We trust that a new stage will consolidate a center that is stronger, more ethical and more capable of responding to the challenges of cancer. The researchers at the CNIO remain firm in our commitment to scientific excellence and to the society we serve,” they conclude.
One of the charges eliminated is that of José Ignacio Fernández Vera, who resigned as general director of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology for “personal reasons” after this newspaper revealed that in two years he had to rent high-end cars with a private driver to go from Madrid to events in Salamanca, his hometown, and other places in Spain.
