08/23/2021

Prominent Biologist Fired for Sexual Harassment

David Sabatini is no longer associated with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) recently fired prominent biologist David Sabatini after an investigation of his workplace behavior. Sabatini at the same time resigned from the Whitehead Institute, the nonprofit research organization in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where his large HHMI-supported lab was located.

"David Sabatini… is no longer associated with either the Whitehead Institute or the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, effective immediately," Whitehead Institute Director Ruth Lehmann wrote in an email to staff. An investigation by an outside law firm, she wrote, "found that Dr. Sabatini violated the institute's policies on sexual harassment among other policies unrelated to research misconduct."

A spokesperson for HHMI, which had funded Sabatini's work at the institute since 2008, wrote, "HHMI is committed to providing an equitable and inclusive work environment for all our employees.… HHMI has ended Dr. Sabatini's appointment as an Investigator, after a determination that he violated HHMI's workplace behavior policy."

Please select this link to read the complete article from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).