On Feb. 1, as President Joe Biden was preparing to fire up the Cancer Moonshot, Eric Lander was the scientist in charge of mission control.
If 2020 was a year of reckoning, 2021 was a year of action—and major milestones for The Cancer Letter and the cancer community.
After consulting with women in oncology, The Cancer Letter has created a guide to help whistleblowers think strategically as they report gender bias and confront institutional resistance.
NIH ignored my report of sexual misconduct by Axel Grothey—and danced around questions from Congress
While I’m glad that in a recent response to questions from a congressional committee NIH recognizes that sexual harassment is a major obstacle in the advancement of science and has put new processes in place to address this issue, the letter does not adequately address the lack of response in the case of Dr. Grothey.
Women who report sexual misconduct to NIH may find that their complaints have a limited shelf life—these complaints may become null, or at least ineligible for “even a cursory review” once perpetrators cut ties with NIH.
NIH may be “constrained” in investigating sexual misconduct at NIH-funded institutions once alleged perpetrators are no longer affiliated with these institutions, NIH officials implied in their response to a congressional inquiry on sexual misconduct (The Cancer Letter, Sept. 24, 2021).
The prevalence of workplace harassment, discrimination, and retaliation experienced by women physicians, especially women of color, is alarmingly high.
A Congressional letter is asking NIH to describe the procedures employed for rooting out sexual misconduct committed by advisors.
Institutions will be required to report sexual misconduct to NIH if House committee bill becomes law
Institutions receiving NIH funds through grants or cooperative agreements would be required—by federal law—to notify the NIH director when a principal investigator or other key personnel are removed or disciplined for “harassment, bullying, retaliation, or hostile working conditions.”
Racial and ethnic minorities that are underrepresented in medicine have even lower representation in leadership of NCI-designated cancer centers, a study by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center researchers found.
