For Scientists these Individuals Sure Lack Qualifications

Howdy All,

Substantiating our claims that the current PhD faculty members (and the MS) sitting on the University of South Dakota School of Medicine are unfit for membership, we have gathered information concerning their research funding.

In general the success of a PhD scientist(s) (as those on the admissions committee claim to be) career is judged by both the scientific and academic community on the basis of two principle factors: (1) number of peer-reviewed novel & hypothesis driven research publications (usually not including review articles) and (2) funding sources. In general, categories (1) and (2) go hand in hand. We demonstrate our expertise and knowledge through public dissemination of both publications and discoveries (sometimes patents are included, but they are usually associated with cited publications). In reviewing the funding and publication histories of the PhD committee members, I think you will be shocked and amazed by their lack of both fundamental tenets of scientific success.

The two most common and certainly high dollar amount of funding sources for a typical academic research scientist are through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). In many cases, investigators have funding sources from private foundations, of course, we do not currently have that information available (though it is a public record document and we will post soon). Any mentioned PI can respond with an e-mail claiming significant funding sources and I will post once verified.


NIH and NSF funding sources were queried from the years 1990 – 2009. You can access each respective database at the following websites:

NIH = http://crisp.cit.nih.gov/crisp/crisp_query.generate_screen

NSF = http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch


Paul Bunger, Associate Professor - No NIH or NSF funding

Ann Settles, Instructor – No NIH or NSF funding

Evelyn Schlenker, Professor –
NIH: ADAPTATION RESPIRATORY PATTERN GENERATOR HYPOXIA (10 month research grant, expired May 2006), THE CNS AND HEART FAILURE (12 month research grant, expired June 2005), SEXUAL DIMORPHISM IN THE CONTROL OF VENTILATION (3 year research grant, expired 1997)

Maureen Burton, Instructor – No NIH or NSF funding

John Thomas, Professor – According to USD website, not currently involved in research. No funding from either NIH or NSF.

Barry Timms, Professor – No NIH or NSF funding

Adhar Manna, Assistant Professor – No NIH or NSF funding.

David Maddox – Apparently this individual is no longer employed by USD.

Looking at the lack of accomplishments (we will post their publication records shortly), to even call some of these individuals scientists would be a stretch of the term. Their qualifications in research are limited at best, and their qualifications to sit on an admissions committee for a School of Medicine are just unacceptable.

I will make an exclusionary comment on one individual … Professor Evelyn Schlenker. Dr. Schlenker does have a publication record, not an extensive record, but at least a record far more comprehensive than her committee member colleagues.