You and I have tracked many American fakes over the years — people running around with pretend diplomas or no diplomas — and we have been impressed by the willingness of just as many American universities to overlook their fakery. Why check credentials?
Thus Western Michigan University hired William Hamman – broad-shouldered pilot of jumbo jets, MD, AND PhD! – to direct its couldn’t-be-better-named Center of Excellence for Simulation Research.
Hamman simulated being an MD and a PhD so excellently that many other organizations – the American College of Cardiology, the American Medical Association, yadda yadda, gave Hamman high-paid gigs to do his thing, which seems to be using what he learned as a pilot on doctors… I dunno. Doesn’t matter….
So, you know, finally after years and years the hospital where he worked checked up on the guy:
In checking a grant proposal he wanted to submit in late spring, the [hospital] staff discovered the lack of an M.D. degree… [Nor did he have the] fellowship, doctoral degree or the 15 years of clinical experience he claimed.
Muy grande liar! I like the way he threw in a PhD. What the hell.
December 12th, 2010 at 5:05PM
I concur.
December 13th, 2010 at 11:37AM
I was told that in the old days, in Italy, universities would require that applicants got their list of alleged publications certified by a librarian. This sounded over the board to me… but…
I don’t quite understand how people still manage to pull of such stunts in academic jobs: lists of publications are publicly available. I suspect this has to do with people claiming “industrial experience”, which is often largely unverifiable.