Trial puts Howard Hughes Medical Institute —and disabled scientists—in the spotlight

In a trial beginning today in Maryland, a jury will consider whether the powerful Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) discriminated against a scientist by terminating her plum investigator award after she became disabled and asked for accommodations. Experts on disability rights say the trial will bring attention to an overlooked and pervasive form of discrimination in science. HHMI says it concerns nothing more than the institute’s right to terminate a scientist whose research didn’t measure up. In 2008, University of Michigan (UM) RNA biologist Vivian Cheung was selected as an HHMI investigator, a coveted position that today comes with $9 million in no-strings-attached funding over 7 years. Her award was renewed once in 2012, but she failed to win a second renewal in 2018. In early 2020, she sued HHMI for discrimination. Cheung, 56, was diagnosed in 2014 with a rare genetic disorder that has impaired her immune system, vision, and blood pressure. Her claims of discrimination based on race, sex, and national origin did not survive legal challenges. In June, however, a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge rejected HHMI’s effort to toss Cheung’s disability discrimination claims, setting the stage for the trial opening today. "What’s at stake in this case is whether the scientific community will come to recognize that their peer review system discriminates against ...people with disabilities and begin to fix a broken system,” said Dav...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research