UPDATE: Incoming McGill research director withdraws after backlash for past charges of discrimination

UPDATE: Very shortly after we published our original story on April 8, it became public that Constantine Stratakis withdrew from the position of executive director and chief scientific officer of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Canada (RI-MUHC) that he was slated to take in June. The following article has been updated to reflect this development.  

Ongoing charges of sexual discrimination have forced a leading geneticist from the U.S. to withdraw from the top job he was to begin in June at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) in Montreal.

In March, McGill announced that Dr. Constantine Stratakis was selected to become the executive director and chief scientific officer of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. In the release, McGill described Stratakis as “a visionary administrative leader and one of the world’s most respected and highest-cited endocrinologists and geneticists.” A stakeholder-based selection committee (see below) chose Stratakis from a list of 141 candidates.

Stratakis was also to become director of research at the MUHC, as well as a full professor in the departments of Medicine and Pediatrics and an associate member in the Department of Human Genetics in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill. Until February, he was the scientific director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in the U.S.

But his new appointment was overshadowed by a year-long investigation by doctor and journalist Dr. Meredith Wadman, a British Columbia native. Published on April 2, her feature article in Science magazine details how women at the NICHD are charging Stratakis with a decade of sex and age discrimination. Under his watch, staff say there was a 43% decrease (from 23 to 13) in the number of women running labs at the institute, and that he dismantled research on women’s gynecological diseases.

Eight equal employment opportunity complaints were filed against Stratakis between 2013 and 2019. Three of the complaints were settled, two are ongoing, a sixth lost on appeal, another was dropped and the remaining complaint was dismissed, the article states.

Stratakis has denied all the claims, but that didn’t stop staff at RI-MUHC from voicing their concerns. By April 7, more than 500 staff at the RI-MUHC had signed a position paper asking its board of directors to revoke Stratakis’ hiring agreement.

“The complaints and concerns regarding Dr. Stratakis are alarming and put into grave question Dr. Stratakis’ ability to meet the above elements being sought for the position of MUHC-RI ED/CSO, namely recruitment/retention, sustainability, career development and mentorship, and overall promotion of a safe, respectful, equitable and diverse work environment,” the position paper stated.

The RI-MUHC board issued a statement April 8 acknowledging Stratakis’ decision to withdraw from the top job, saying that he “confirmed that circumstances beyond his and his family's control forced him to reconsider their future”.

On its website, McGill states that its “policies and regulations are designed to support an environment of respect, trust, and inclusion through encouraging equity and diversity in all aspects of our community.”

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