A leading professor in the field of cancer research has resigned her job at the UK’s Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) following allegations of bullying dating back 12 years.
Nazneen Rahman, whose parents are from Bangladesh, grew up in England and completed her degree in medicine at Oxford University in 1991 and earned a PhD in Molecular Genetics in 1999.
She was honoured with a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2016 for her research, which focuses primarily on identifying genes that can cause breast, ovarian, and childhood cancer susceptibility.
As a professor, she is internationally-recognised for her work aimed at harnessing her scientific and clinical expertise to identify and clinically implement human disease genes.
She has been the Head of the Division of Genetics and Epidemiology at the ICR in London for many years but was given a leave of absence in November last year after a letter signed by 45 current and former employees accused her of bullying and harassment.
The ICR said it conducted an investigation into the claims, following which Rahman decided to resign and will be leaving the cancer charity at the end of October.
“We can confirm we received allegations of bullying against a member of our staff. We take any complaints about bullying extremely seriously, and immediately commissioned an independent investigation into the allegations by a respected law firm. The staff member was on leave of absence during this process,” ICR said in a statement.
“We recognise we could have done more to support those who came to us with concerns and are absolutely committed to learning the lessons. In addition to the changes we have already made, we are reviewing the investigation findings in detail and will be implementing further recommendations in full,” ICR added.
Of the 45 signatories, 22 claimed to have suffered direct bullying and others claimed to have witnessed incidents of bullying and harassment.
Rahman, who is also a singer-songwriter having released song albums over the years, said she was proud of the work she had done at the institute.
“I am sorry the group feel this way. I want to make it clear that following the investigation there were no disciplinary findings against me. And the decision to resign was mine, and mine alone,” the 50-year-old said.
Rahman, who has been a non-executive director on the board of UK-based pharmaceutical firm Astrazeneca since last year, was recently appointed Chairman of its Science Committee and Member of the Nomination and Governance Committee.