Content Warning: This story includes mentions of suicide.
The estate of a Feinberg professor who died by suicide after being investigated by the National Institutes of Health and Northwestern sued the University this week for alleged discrimination and contributing to her suicide.
Prof. Jane Wu’s estate filed a civil complaint in Cook County Circuit Court against NU on Monday. Her family alleged that the University took away research opportunities and resources from Wu on the basis of her national origin, as she was born in China.
The complaint also alleged the University discriminated against her based on sex, saying “the male-dominated administration of Defendant NU’s Feinberg School benefitted the interests of her male colleagues with whom she competed for funding.”
Along with other charges of disability discrimination and breach of conduct, the plaintiffs allege the University violated the Illinois Human Rights Act in its treatment of Wu.
The University did not respond to The Daily’s request for comment, as it “(does) not comment on pending litigation,” according to a University spokesperson.
Wu held an endowed research professorship at Feinberg for more than a decade, focusing on the molecular mechanisms behind neurodegenerative diseases like ALS and other topics.
She was investigated by the NIH starting in 2019 based on her Chinese affiliations, according to the complaint. Grant funding agencies have been investigating researchers with Chinese affiliations for years, and the first administration of President Donald Trump started a Justice Department program called the China Initiative in 2018.
The program aimed to focus “attention on the multi-faceted threat from the government of China,” but created concerns of fueling “a narrative of intolerance and bias,” then-Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said at an event at George Mason University’s Institute for National Security in February 2022.
The Biden administration ended the named program in 2022.
From October 2020, the University barred her from applying for new NIH grants. It also began to reassign her ongoing project grants.
While the NIH ended its investigation and cleared Wu to return to her work, the University revoked lab space and removed researchers from her team, which the complaint says contributed to her acquiring an “emotional disability.”
According to the complaint, Wu was forcibly removed from her lab in May 2024 by University Police and the Chicago Police Department and sent to the psychiatric unit of Northwestern Memorial Hospital against her will. The complaint alleges that the family was not consulted before Wu was placed in the hospital.
Wu died on July 10, 2024. Her estate is asking for compensatory and punitive damages for the alleged violation of her rights under state law.
This is a breaking story and will be updated as it develops.
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