Timothy Kuklo, a researcher and professor at the Washington University School of Medicine, has voluntarily resigned after allegedly falsifying a study, a medical school spokesman confirmed Wednesday evening.

Kuklo, associate professor of orthopedic surgery, submitted a letter of resignation on July 30, effective Sept. 30, according a statement issued by the University.
“Dr. Kuklo has agreed to voluntarily resign from the University, effective September 30, 2009,” the statement said. “Dr. Kuklo will have no clinical, research, or educational duties for the University between now and that date.”

Kuklo has been the subject of federal scrutiny over a study the U.S. Army alleges he falsified while working at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He performed the study, which was about the benefits of a bone-growth drug, before coming to the University in 2006.

Medical school spokesman Don Clayton declined to comment further on Kuklo’s resignation because school officials are conducting an investigation.

The drug, Infuse, is produced by a Minneapolis, Minn., company called Medtronic, which hired Kuklo back in 2006 as a consultant around the time he came to the University.
The New York Times reported that Medtronic suspended Kuklo from his consulting duties last spring after word of the falsified study came out. The journal in which the study appeared retracted the article.

Medtronic reportedly paid Kuklo $800,000 from 2001 to 2009 to attend conferences while he was in the military. Just recently, the company acknowledged also paying Kuklo to train doctors and speak at conferences on the company’s behalf.

The Army prohibits its doctors from accepting money for consulting without permission. Investigators reportedly found no sign that Kuklo had gotten proper permission. The University said Kuklo also failed to disclose his relationship to Medtronic as part of the school’s required conflict-of-interest filings.

The Times also reported that Kuklo’s Medtronic dealings drew the scrutiny of Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who wrote a letter to the company asking why Kuklo’s name was missing from a list of its consultants.