Professor Nazneen Rahman has stepped down from her role at the Institute of Cancer Research over multiple allegations of bullying dating back 12 years.
Rahman was given leave of absence last November after a letter signed by 45 current and former employees, seen by the Guardian, accused her of “serious recurrent bullying and harassment”. The charity has said it “could have done more” to support staff members that came to it with concerns.
The letter said that Rahman’s behaviour had caused psychological harm and career damage, some of it which was said to be “very serious”. Of the 45 signatories, 22 claimed to have “suffered direct bullying which created an ‘intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive’ working environment”.
It said that a further 23 former or current employees of the ICR and its sister organisation, the Royal Marsden hospital where Rahman also holds a key role, claimed to have witnessed incidents of bullying and harassment.
The letter also said that the ICR had failed to take appropriate action for years despite “multitudes of oral and written complaints” against Rahman at both the institute and the Marsden.
The ICR confirmed that Rahman will be leaving the ICR at the end of October, and that she will remain on a leave of absence until that time.
In a statement the charity said: “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.
“We reviewed the findings of the investigation and discussed them with the staff member. The staff member decided to resign and will be leaving the ICR.”
It added that an “open and supportive working environment is essential for our work to defeat cancer” and said that it has put in place a series of measures to ensure it responds to allegations as quickly and effectively as possible.
These include revising its policy on bullying and harassment, providing an external hotline for reporting of complaints, and effective information sharing within the ICR.
‘Could have done more’
The charity added: “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.
Rahman told the Guardian that she was proud of the work she and her team had done at the institute in the fight against cancer.
“I am sorry the group feel this way,” she said. “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.”
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