ABOVE: The National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity in Mexico
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A six-month investigation by Science has revealed the extent of abuse allegedly perpetrated by Jean-Philippe Vielle Calzada, an influential plant geneticist at Mexico’s National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity (Langebio). In addition to four official harassment complaints, Science uncovered additional, unreported accounts of sexual harassment by two more women as well as eight counts of work harassment made by men. Even before the new reporting emerged, the episode had added to a growing reckoning in Mexico over the treatment of female scientists by their male colleagues, Nature reported in 2019.
While many chose to remain anonymous for fear of personal and professional reprisal, the women behind the complaints include colleagues and former students of Vielle Calzada’s, and the incidents are said to have occurred between 2013 and 2019. Broadly, the allegations center on patterns of behavior in which ...
