Wrongful-termination sit against Penn going to trial

When Mark Selikson, the University's one-time director of radiation safety, called attention to a Penn doctor who was allegedly performing illegal radiation experiments, he thought he was just doing his job. But instead, he claims, he lost that job for doing it right. Two years after he filed a wrongful termination suit against the University, the civil suit will finally go to trial on Monday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. Selikson, who lost his job in February 1997 and filed the lawsuit the following September, alleges that the University fired him to prevent him from reporting Radiopharmaceutical Science Professor Hank Kung's allegedly illegal experiments to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which had already been investigating Kung for several years. Patricia Pierce, who is representing Selikson, declined to comment on the case. Neither Alan Berkowitz, the outside attorney representing Penn, nor any member of the Office of the General Counsel would comment. Selikson, of Radnor, Pa., seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages in the suit. The University filed a countersuit against Selikson denying all of the charges and accusing Selikson of using University resources and employees to run a private image consulting business. The countersuit alleges Selikson's consulting company earned about $220,000 over seven years. At the time the lawsuit was filed, Penn officials said that this was the reason for Selikson's dismissal. "Selikson's firing was based on [his] own conduct in the management of the Radiation Safety Office, not on any alleged whistle-blowing activity," University spokesperson Ken Wildes said in 1997. According to the lawsuit, the controversial ordeal began in the fall of 1994, when the FDA investigated Kung and found that he did not adequately test or keep records of the radioactive chemicals he sent around the country for his research. The FDA investigated Kung again in March 1995 and told Selikson that the University should not have allowed Kung to make and ship the radioactive materials, the suit alleges. After the FDA warned University President Judith Rodin about Kung later that year, the University required employees to notify the FDA of all radioactive shipments. Despite this, Kung continued his research, prompting Selikson to form a task force to investigate Kung's work. Selikson warned administrators in November 1996 that Kung was still disregarding federal regulations but was fired before he could alert federal regulators about the alleged violations, according to the suit. The lawsuit claims that Selikson's superiors fired him on the basis of false accusations, including that he was poorly managing the Radiation Safety Office and pirating software. The suit also says that the accusations were brought forth after he notified them of Kung's violations. Although Selikson has admitted to conducting a private consulting business, "he expressly advised the University of the existence of that business" and did not use any University resources, the lawsuit said. Jury selection will begin this morning and is expected to last only one day, and the trial is expected to last about three weeks.