Professor quits after 22 staff accuse her of bullying
‘Hostile and degrading’
A LEADING geneticist has resigned from a research centre over allegations of bullying. Nazneen Rahman was accused by 22 University College London colleagues of harassment and intimidation over more than a decade.
The alleged victims spoke out in a letter last year, which was signed by 23 other staff who claimed they had witnessed the bullying.
One accuser said she was undermined on such a regular basis ‘that by the end of it I really had a lack of confidence in my own abilities’.
Professor Rahman resigned as head of genetics and epidemiology at the UCL Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) following an investigation by her employers.
She was recently honoured at the Asian women of achievement awards and has received a CBE for services to medical science.
The letter, which was submitted to the ICR in November, accused her of ‘serious recurrent bullying and harassment’.
It said her behaviour had caused psychological harm and career damage, ‘some of it very serious’.
Of the 45 signatories, around half claimed to have suffered direct bullying that created an ‘intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive’ working environment.
The rest claimed to have witnessed bullying and harassment. The signatories included current and former employees of the ICR and its sister organisation, the Royal Marsden hospital in London
Professor Rahman’s work has focused on identifying genes that cause disease, particularly breast, ovarian and childhood cancers. The research has brought her many accolades and secured millions of pounds in funding for the ICR.
She was number three on the BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour power list in 2014 and is also a singer- songwriter who has made a number of albums.
The complainants claimed the ICR had failed to take appro- priate action for years despite ‘multitudes of oral and written complaints’.
The letter concludes: ‘ The ICR is a world- class research institute which employs exceptional researchers united in making the discoveries that defeat cancer.
‘Each of us felt privileged to be appointed by the ICR and to be given the opportunity to contribute to this endeavour. Sadly, many of us left our employment at the ICR psychologically damaged and disillusioned.’
Professor Rahman is on a leave of absence until her official departure date at the end of October. An institute spokesman said: ‘We can confirm we received allegations of bullying against a member of our staff.
‘We take any complaints about bullying extremely seriously, and immediately commissioned an independent investigation into the allegations by a respected law firm. The staff member was on leave of absence during this process.
‘We reviewed the findings of the investigation and discussed them with the staff member. The staff member decided to resign and will be leaving the ICR.’
The institute said it had revised its policy on bullying and harassment and introduced an external hotline. It added: ‘We recognise we could have done more to support those who came to us with concerns and are absolutely committed to learning the lessons.’
Professor Rahman said she was proud of the work she and her team had done in the fight against cancer.
She told The Guardian: ‘I want to make it clear that following the investigation there were no disciplinary findings against me. And the decision to resign was mine and mine alone.’