Sapan Desai

Desai was born and raised in the North Shore (Chicago) region of Illinois by Gujarati immigrants from India. He is a graduate of the Stevenson High School (Lincolnshire, Illinois) and took 13 Advanced Placement classes there. Desai attended the University of Illinois at Chicago and studied biology, graduating at age 19. He then joined the combined M.D./Ph.D. program at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. During this time, he completed his Ph.D. degree in anatomy and cell biology, and M.D. degree by age 27. His doctoral adviser said that Desai claimed to be enrolled at John Marshall Law School, and later described himself as having his J.D., but there is no evidence of this being true. A 2004 publication from his period in Chicago showed signs of data manipulation (numerous duplicated regions in photographs), upon re-examination in June 2020.{{Cite web |last=Elisabeth Bik |date=2020-06-06 |title=The Surgisphere Founder and the Melba Toast figure |url=https://scienceintegritydigest.com/2020/06/06/the-surgisphere-founder-and-the-melba-toast-figure/ |access-date=2020-06-08 |website=Science Integrity Digest |language=en}}

He graduated in 2006, then matched to Duke University for residency as a general surgeon.{{Cite web |title=Alumni |author= |work=Chicago Medicine |date= |access-date=6 June 2020 |url= https://chicago.medicine.uic.edu/education/masters-and-doctorate-programs/medical-scientist-training-program/alumni/ |quote=Sapan Desai (2006) PhD: Anatomy & Cell Biology ; Thesis Advisor: Anna Lysakowski, PhD Residency: General Surgery, Duke University }}{{Cite web |title=University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago Match Results |author= |work=Chicago Medicine |date= |access-date=6 June 2020 |url= https://chicago.medicine.uic.edu/education/md-student-services-and-support/academic-and-career-advising-and-support/match-preparation-past-results/com-chicago-match-results/ }}

In 2008 Desai, still a surgical resident, founded Surgisphere to market medical textbooks, produced by Surgisphere, to medical students. Fake 5-star reviews on Amazon from accounts impersonating physicians were found.{{Cite web |first=Catherine |last=Offord |date=2020-05-30 |title=Disputed Hydroxychloroquine Study Brings Scrutiny to Surgisphere |url=https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/disputed-hydroxychloroquine-study-brings-scrutiny-to-surgisphere-67595 |access-date=2020-06-08 |website=The Scientist Magazine® |language=en}}

The Guardian noted that "in 2010, his Wikipedia page was flagged for deletion" because editors questioned his accomplishments.{{Cite news |first1=Melissa |last1=Davey |first2=Stephanie |last2=Kirchgaessner |first3=Sarah |last3=Boseley |date=2020-06-03 |title=Surgisphere: governments and WHO changed Covid-19 policy based on suspect data from tiny US company |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/03/covid-19-surgisphere-who-world-health-organization-hydroxychloroquine |access-date=2020-07-07 |issn=0261-3077}} The New York Times described him as an unreliable physician, and a chief resident from Duke said "You couldn't trust what he said. You would verify everything that he did and take everything he did with a grain of salt." Thirteen people interviewed by the New York Times said there were "broad concerns inside the surgery department" about Desai. He would make improbable claims about patients and wouldn't follow through on their care.

Desai received his online M.B.A. degree in 2012 from Western Governors University in three months.{{cite web |title=Online MBA Graduate Sapan Desai, MD, Ph.D. - A WGU Success Story |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUxbJbPv0_4&t=68s |website=YouTube |publisher=Western Governors University |date = 2012 |accessdate=9 June 2020}}

In 2012, Desai became a fellow in vascular surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He published the Journal of Surgical Radiology, which closed in 2013 despite reportedly having accrued 50,000 subscribers, because he "ran out of time." The New York Times described his performance at the Texas hospital as problematic and having "antagonized some supervisors" to the point that they asked for him to be expelled, but he passed the program. Hazim Safi, the department chair, said "I intervened and he graduated", attributing the problems to personality, not skill. From July 2014 to May 2016, Desai was a vascular surgeon at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in charge of surgical simulation as vice chair of research.{{Cite web |title=Medical Scientist MD-PHD UIC newsletter vol 16 issue 1 |author=Roberta Bernstein |work=chicago.medicine.uic.edu |date=25 September 2015 |access-date=6 June 2020 |url= https://chicago.medicine.uic.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2017/07/MSTP-Fall-2015.pdf}}

In February 2020, Desai resigned from Northwest Community Hospital in suburban Arlington Heights, Illinois "for family reasons"; at least four medical malpractice suits had been filed against him.{{Cite web |title=The Doctor Behind the Disputed Covid Data |author=Ellen Gabler |author2=Roni Caryn Rabin |work=The New York Times |date=27 July 2020 |access-date=27 July 2020 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/science/coronavirus-retracted-studies-data.html}}

On June 4, 2020, in response to the fraud{{Cite web |title=The Pandemic Claims New Victims: Prestigious Medical Journals |author=Roni Caryn Rabin |work=The New York Times |date=14 June 2020 |access-date=18 June 2020 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/14/health/virus-journals.html}} found after the scrutiny of Surgisphere, its data, and after Surgisphere's inability to convince critics of their data's integrity, Desai joined his coauthors in retracting a paper from the New England Journal of Medicine.{{cite journal |last1=Mehra |first1=Mandeep R. |last2=Desai |first2=Sapan S. |last3=Kuy |first3=SreyRam |last4=Henry |first4=Timothy D. |last5=Patel |first5=Amit N. |title=Retraction: Cardiovascular Disease, Drug Therapy, and Mortality in Covid-19. N Engl J Med. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2007621. |journal=New England Journal of Medicine |date=4 June 2020 |volume=382 |issue=26 |page=2582 |doi=10.1056/NEJMc2021225 |pmid=32501665 |pmc=7274164 |url=}} The next day the three coauthors of another paper based on findings from Surgisphere data and published in The Lancet retracted the paper without Desai.{{cite journal |last1=Mehra |first1=Mandeep R |last2=Ruschitzka |first2=Frank |last3=Patel |first3=Amit N |title=Retraction—Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide for treatment of COVID-19: a multinational registry analysis |journal=The Lancet |date=5 June 2020 |volume=395 |issue=10240 |page=1820 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31324-6 |pmid=32511943 |pmc=7274621 }} Richard Horton, editor in chief of The Lancet, called the paper a fabrication and "a monumental fraud". Eric Rubin, editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, said "We shouldn’t have published this". In late July 2020, the New York Times said people "described him as a man in a hurry, a former whiz kid willing to cut corners, misrepresent information or embellish his credentials as he pursued his ambitions." The Lancet later revised its peer review procedures citing problems caused by Surgisphere's "alleged dataset".{{cite journal |title=Learning from a retraction |journal=The Lancet |date=17 September 2020 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31958-9|volume=396 |issue=10257 |page=1056 |pmid=32950071 |pmc=7498225 |author=((The Editors Of The Lancet Group)) }}{{cite news |last1=Hopkins |first1=Jared S. |title=Lancet Medical Journal Changes Peer-Review Process Amid Flurry of Covid-19 Research |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/lancet-medical-journal-changes-peer-review-process-amid-flurry-of-covid-19-research-11600451859 |accessdate=18 September 2020 |publisher=The Wall Street Journal |date=18 September 2020}}

Subsequently, Elisabeth Bik analyzed one of Desai's early first author papers and found evidence of apparent image manipulation.{{cite web | last1=Davey | first1=Melissa | last2=Kirchgaessner | first2=Stephanie | title=Surgisphere: mass audit of papers linked to firm behind hydroxychloroquine Lancet study scandal | website=The Guardian | date=2020-06-10 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/10/surgisphere-sapan-desai-lancet-study-hydroxychloroquine-mass-audit-scientific-papers | access-date=2020-06-10}}

Desai is related to his co-author, physician Amit Patel, by marriage.{{Cite news |last1=Piller|first1=Charles |date=2020-06-08 |title=Who's to blame? These three scientists are at the heart of the Surgisphere COVID-19 scandal |language=en |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/whos-blame-these-three-scientists-are-heart-surgisphere-covid-19-scandal |access-date=2020-07-07}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://melwy.com/blog/open-science-matters-timeline-of-the-lancet-and-new-england-journal-of-medicine-frauds Open science matters — timeline of the Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine frauds]
• [https://iowaclimate.org/2020/05/26/surgispheres-covid-19-tools-are-deadly-fraud/ Surgisphere’s COVID-19 Tools are Deadly Fraud] 26 May 2020, iowaclimate.org

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Category:1979 births

Category:American people of Gujarati descent

Category:American people of Indian descent

Category:Living people

Category:People from Evanston, Illinois

Category:University of Illinois Chicago alumni

Category:Western Governors University alumni

Category:People involved in scientific misconduct incidents