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哈佛大学周金荣博士来函

来函要点为：他在２０００年被哈佛大学大学从讲师提升为助理教授；他的论文发表
纪录不算杰出也不糟糕（他未具体提到其论文纪录，只说有论文正被审阅），但论文
不是被提升的最重要因素，特别是在哈佛大学更是如此；他不是哈佛大学的最年轻教
授，他不知道记者为什么要那么写。

方舟子按：原报道是围绕着“哈佛大学最年轻教授”这一主题来写的，我的评论主要
针对的就是“哈佛大学最年轻教授”这一说法，原报道显然把博士后当做“教授级”，
至于记者为何会有如此奇想，那是只有天晓得了。如我在回答周博士的一位朋友的来
函时所指出的，按周博士的论文发表纪录（自1994年到哈佛大学做博士后以来至今仅
两篇做为主要作者的论文分别发表在J NUTR和CANCER RES上），他不可能在美国三流
大学获得教授职务，甚至要在中国名牌大学当教授都有困难。至于哈佛大学是否有特
别的校情，当助理教授有特别的因素（对华人特别照顾？），不得而知。另外，我并
没有把这当成“科学腐败”或“学术腐败”，不知周博士为何会有这种说法。不管
“博士后在哈佛大学等于教授级”、“而立之年成为哈佛大学大学最年轻教授”的谬
论出自何人之口，假的就是假的，总有澄清的必要，因为我戳穿了“哈佛大学大学最
年轻教授”的画皮，周的朋友们或公开或匿名要我为此道歉，实在是可笑。

戏秦高僧按：哈佛大学教授的英语真不敢恭维。wright 不说了，大概是 write。
your time 不能说成 your's 吧。正确的句子应该是：(why) he (could)(write) 
that and (wasted) (your)time and other people's. 一句话五个错。此外，
整篇文章语句像小学生作文，都是最基本句形，好象我在国内学英语的作文。
既然记者写错了，怎么不出面纠正，要等别人揭发后才说明？在心里偷笑了吧。

Dear Mr./Dr. Fang,

First, I want to think you for your being interested in my background and
spending time to try to confirm if the report is true.  You are right, 
the title was not correct.  I am certainly not the youngest professor at
Harvard, and I have not ever mentioned it to that reporter, and have no clue
how he can wright that and waste your's and other people's time.  However, I
want tot tell you that the content was more or less correct (as you also
knew, I entered Nanda in 1980, not 1979). Also, I want to let you know that
this is not about "scientific corruption"  It has nothing to do with
science.  The only problem is that some people are lack of professional
ethics, which reflects the current situation in China (including "scientific
corruption" you mentioned). I want to update my current status and hope 
it will resolve some of your confusions.  

I was appointed as an Assistant Professor at Dept. Surgery/HMS in 2000 
from Instructor (1996-1999) (I did my postdoctoral training at Harvard from
1994-1996).  It is A TENURE TRACK POSITION, although as you may know, it is
extremely hard to earn the tenure at Harvard.  But that is what I am trying
to do.  You might be right, I may not get a tenure at a 3rd tie University
because I have not tried, even not thought about doing that, and WILL NOT
TRY TO FIND A TENURE POSITION in a 3rd tie Univ. in US.

It IS HARD to be promoted from Instructor to Assist. Prof. at Harvard.
Certainly publication is one of the important factors.  But I want to tell
you that it is not the most important one.  Sure comparing with some other
people, my publication record is not excellent, but not poor.  You may also
know that some people have several publications in Science, Nature, Cell,
etc, but still have not found an academic position.  THat is why I say
publication is not the most important factor to determine if a person is
qualified for an academic appointment, especially at Harvard. 

As Dr. Hong told you, I have a NCI nutrition and cancer research RO1 grant
(I assume you know what RO1 is).  I have a second RO1 from NIH/NCCAM which
started sept. 2001.  I also have one grant from American Institue for Cancer
Research, two grants from Mass. Dept. Public Health, and one grant from a
company.  I have two RO1s in pending (all revised and previous scores were
quite promising) and two others in pending.  I am preparing two more RO1s
and one Core Facility grant which are all due at the end of July. I also
want to let you know that none of these grants are overlaped. THe reason
that my publication was delayed is because that I have to wright everything
by myself (My previous staff members who did the studies were not good at
wrighting) and grants always have deadlines but manuscripts do not.  I have
three manuscripts under review and more are in preparation (it really
depends on how much time I have).  I hope you can understand my 
situation.

If you need more information, feel free to contact me.
Have a great and relax weekend.


Sincerely,   

 
Jin-Rong Zhou, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Harvard Medical School
Director, Nutrition/Metabolism Laboratory
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Boston, MA 02215

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