A Message to Our Community • iBiology

On August 20, 2021, David Sabatini was fired from his position at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and he resigned from the Whitehead Institute in the wake of an investigation into sexual harassment. Whitehead Institute Director Ruth Lehmann, in an email to staff, said an independent investigation from an outside law firm “found that Dr. Sabatini violated the Institute’s policies on sexual harassment among other policies unrelated to research misconduct.”

In light of these developments, iBiology has decided to remove Dr. Sabatini’s talks from our website and YouTube channel. Sexual harassment, and toxic work cultures more generally, are serious and underreported problems in science. We are committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM and we want to celebrate those who embody the best ideals of scientific inquiry. With the public information currently available, we feel Dr. Sabatini falls short of our standards.