“It Was a Final Report. It Was Marked Draft” — “We Stand 100 Percent Behind It”: Attorney David French’s 5.09 Testimony on Hall Render’s NIH R01 Investigative Report (2018)
Hall Render’s NIH R01 Investigative Report
During the November 12, 2018 5.09 hearing, Hall Render attorney David French was one of four witnesses called in support of University of Michigan Medical School Dean Dr. Marschall Runge’s charges against Dr. Bradley Foerster.
Mr. French testified concerning Hall Render’s investigation of NIH Grant R01NS082304 and the resulting investigative report. The report was dated November 3, 2017—more than a year before the 5.09 hearing—but was not released to Dr. Foerster until shortly before the hearings began.
The version released to Dr. Foerster more than a year later was still marked “DRAFT.” The November 3, 2017 report itself identifies its subject as “DRAFT Report - Internal Investigation re: NIH Grant.”
At the hearing, Dr. Foerster asked Mr. French whether Mr. French had signed the report.
“No.”
Did Mr. French plan to sign it?
“No.”
But Mr. French did not regard the report as unfinished.
“We Stand 100 Percent Behind It”
Mr. French described the report as firm work product and explained that Hall Render did not believe an individual attorney needed to sign it.
Mr. French also acknowledged:
“I was not involved in every aspect of it.”
He immediately added:
“That doesn't mean in any sense that I would disavow any portion of it. We stand 100 percent behind it…”
According to Mr. French, Hall Render had been asked to undertake a firm investigation, had done so, and regarded the report on its letterhead as work the firm would stand behind.
But the report still said “DRAFT.”
“It Was a Final Report. It Was Marked Draft.”
Dr. Foerster put that distinction directly to Mr. French, asking whether Mr. French’s position was that decisions could be made on an unsigned report marked draft.
Mr. French rejected the premise:
“Well, it's not a draft report. I think my testimony was clear that it was a final report. It was marked draft for the reasons I indicated.”
Mr. French added that an investigative report lacking the signature of an individual attorney was “not unusual at all.”
Dr. Foerster then asked:
“So why don't you just replace the cover sheet and put Final on it?”
Mr. French answered:
“We weren't asked to do that.”
The status of the document was therefore stated in two different ways in the same hearing record: the report released to Dr. Foerster remained marked “DRAFT”; Hall Render’s witness testified that it was a final report.
Earlier 2015 Records Provide Context for the Feldman Statement
The University’s own records from 2015 provide important context for the statement attributed to Dr. Eva Feldman in the Hall Render report.
Earlier that year, an ALS Clinic meeting transcript documented Dr. Feldman stating that the Department of Neurology was terminating its research relationship with Dr. Robert Welsh on the NIH-funded project.
Related 2015 record:
University of Michigan ALS Clinic Ends NIH-Funded Research Collaboration with Dr. Robert Welsh — 2015 Meeting Transcript
By August 26, 2015, the problem had reached the Radiology Career Development Committee. The committee memorandum records Dr. Feldman reporting that the clinical staff responsible for recruiting, consenting, and phenotyping ALS patients would not work with Dr. Welsh. The committee concluded that the situation required resolution “ASAP” and that removing Dr. Welsh from the NIH grant appeared to be “the only tenable solution.”
Related 2015 record:
Career Development Committee Memorandum: “Rising Star” on Track for Tenure; Committee Recommends Removing Co-Principal Investigator from NIH ALS Grant
Those records do not establish what Dr. Feldman later told Hall Render. Nor do they necessarily equate problems with Dr. Welsh’s continued participation in the collaboration with Dr. Welsh’s “performance under the grant.”
But the earlier records give important context to the exchange at the 5.09 hearing. By the time Hall Render conducted its investigation, the University possessed contemporaneous records documenting Neurology’s termination of its research relationship with Dr. Welsh, clinical personnel unwilling to work with Dr. Welsh, and a committee recommendation that Dr. Welsh be removed from the NIH grant as the “only tenable solution.”
Mr. French’s testimony did not establish what Dr. Feldman was specifically asked about Dr. Welsh’s responsibilities under R01NS082304 or how the Hall Render investigation considered those earlier records. Instead, when Dr. Foerster pressed on the basis for the statement attributed to Dr. Feldman, Mr. French returned to the report:
“Again, I know what's in the report.”
Follow the 5.09 Record
The broader University of Michigan 5.09 proceedings and related documentary record can be followed through:
Case Index — Documentary Record and Investigations
Primary Documentary Record
November 3, 2017 — Hall Render Draft Report — Internal Investigation re: NIH Grant
The Hall Render report concerning NIH Grant R01NS082304 is reproduced below.
November 12, 2018 — 5.09 Hearing Testimony of Attorney David French
The testimony documents Mr. French’s explanation of the report’s “DRAFT” designation, Hall Render’s position that the report was final, the absence of an individual attorney signature, Hall Render’s statement that it stood “100 percent behind” the report, and the limits of Mr. French’s personal involvement in portions of the investigation.
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5.09 Documentary Chronology
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Selected Reporting
- Bradley Foerster Submits 140-Exhibit, 1,121-Page Documentary Chronology to FBI for Supervisory Review of the Investigation Involving Dr. Bradley Foerster, Dr. Myria Petrou, and Duaa Altaee
- From One FBI File to a Legislative Proposal: Peter and Maria Foerster Ask Senator Van Hollen's Office and Congressman Jamie Raskin to Consider a Uniform Administrative Framework for Federal Investigations
- Eva Feldman Documentary Chronology: 139 Exhibits on NIH R01NS082304, University Proceedings, and Federal Investigation — No Response Received
- Bradley Foerster and Myria Petrou Send Ann Arbor Officials Documentary Chronology on AAPD and Related Federal Investigations — No Response Received
- Timothy Lynch Documentary Chronology: 63 Exhibits on University of Michigan Office of General Counsel, University Investigations, and Law Enforcement — No Response Received
- Bradley Foerster and Myria Petrou Documentary Chronology: 8 Exhibits Document More Than Two Years of Efforts to Trace Bank of Ann Arbor's $1.4 Million Sheriff's Sale Credit Bid — No Response Received
Brad Foerster, MD PhD
Brad Foerster is a FOIA advocate documenting requests, transparency disputes, and accountability investigations involving public agencies, universities, police oversight, and Russia-Gate related inquiries. His work compiles original documents, timelines, and analysis of public records and institutional responses. Brad is also a board-certified radiologist, author of Town & Gown, and has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles. Brad lives in Potomac, Maryland with his family and is a member of the Montgomery County Medical Society and the Takoma Park U.S. & World History Book Club.