HH­MI dis­crim­i­nat­ed against two Asian Amer­i­can women in­ves­ti­ga­tors, law­suits al­lege

Howard Hugh­es Med­ical In­sti­tute — the not­ed non­prof­it known for dol­ing out gen­er­ous in­ves­ti­ga­tor awards to re­searchers all around the US — is fac­ing law­suits by two Asian Amer­i­can bi­ol­o­gists who al­lege they were un­fair­ly de­nied re­new­al of grants be­cause of their sex, age, na­tion­al ori­gin or dis­abil­i­ty.

Mered­ith Wad­man of Sci­ence first re­port­ed the law­suits, which ac­cord­ing to le­gal ex­perts and sev­er­al oth­er Asian Amer­i­can women who were dis­con­tin­ued as HH­MI in­ves­ti­ga­tors re­flect a pat­tern of prej­u­dice at the or­ga­ni­za­tion. They al­so come amid a gen­er­al in­crease in aware­ness about the ob­sta­cles women in life sci­ences face in their ca­reers. Ear­li­er this year, the Salk In­sti­tute in San Diego came un­der fire af­ter in which fe­male fac­ul­ty mem­bers claim an “old boys’ club” of se­niors re­strict­ed their ac­cess to funds, re­sources and net­works.

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