In the Wake of Controversy, Harvard Primate Research Center Head Steps Down

In the Wake of Controversy, Harvard Primate Research Center Head Steps Down. Dr. Fred Wang had been serving as interim chief for the past six months. He was brought in to clean up some of the problems pervading the center’s system, but under his regime, three monkeys have died in less than a year, including one this past week due to possible dehydration. In the past two years, a total of four monkeys have died at the center. Primates have a place in critical medical research, thanks to physiologies that are very similar to ours, however, those same similarities also make them the most controversial of research subjects and a hot-button topic for both researchers and animal rights groups alike. Track records like Dr. Wang’s only make these issues more sensitive. Recently, the federal government suspended new funding for chimpanzee research, to establish new, more stringent criteria for what may or may not be funded. [WBUR]