After Scientist Questioned For China Ties Died By Suicide, Family Sues And Speaks Out

Their mother was Jane Wu, a Chinese American neuroscientist astatine Northwestern University whose laboratory was abruptly unopen down successful May 2024 pursuing a authorities investigation into her investigation activities and ties to China. Wu was ne'er charged, and she died by termination astatine 60 years aged conscionable months later.

Her family precocious revenge a suit against nan schoolhouse alleging that Northwestern discriminated against Wu moreover though she was cleared by shutting down her lab, forcing her into a psychiatric installation against her will and yet starring her to return her ain life. Wu’s tribunal records do not show immoderate related charges.

Her daughter, Elizabeth Rao, is now speaking to nan media for nan first clip amid nan one-year day of Wu’s death. Rao talked astir her mother’s bequest and addressed nan suit that she hopes will consequence successful nan adjacent curen of scholars for illustration her mother.

“As achy arsenic it is for america arsenic her family to recount really Northwestern treated her, we are seeking justness to forestall this from happening again to others successful nan future,” Rao said.

Wu, a neuroscientist, had a astir 40-year profession including astir 2 decades astatine Northwestern, according to nan complaint, which said her laboratory researched tumor improvement and metastasis, successful summation to efforts to conflict neurodegenerative diseases. A naturalized citizen, Wu lived successful Chicago, enjoyed a wide assortment of euphony ranging from Tanya Tucker to Taiwanese popular musician Teresa Teng and loved spending clip pinch her 2 children.

In 2019, nan National Institutes of Health, a national aesculapian investigation agency that operates nether nan Department of Health and Human services, investigated Wu for immoderate contacts related to China arsenic portion of a larger agency effort to analyse overseas power astatine U.S. grantee institutions. Her activity included “occasional world contacts” successful China successful summation to Argentina, Britain, Canada and more, nan suit said.

While location were ne'er immoderate charges, Northwestern made efforts to limit her from moving during nan probe, nan suit said. And erstwhile nan investigation grounded to move up immoderate revelations, nan schoolhouse still continued to punish her, nan suit said.

“NU did thing to support her nor thief assistance nan group stigma placed complete Dr. Wu contempt her evident innocence and nan tremendous backing her activity had brought to NU,” nan suit said.

The Wu family suit, revenge connected June 23, says that nan school’s curen of Wu, including its alleged efforts to oust her, her beingness eviction from her agency and forced hospitalization, was a “substantial and decisive facet successful her determination to extremity her life.” The property is seeking an unspecified magnitude successful compensatory and punitive damages.

Jane Wu astatine Niagara Falls.Courtesy Elizabeth Rao

Northwestern told NBC News successful an email that its bosom goes retired to nan family, but it “vehemently denies” nan allegations successful nan suit.

The schoolhouse “plans to record a mobility to disregard it earlier our adjacent pleading is owed successful early September,” nan assemblage said. The schoolhouse declined to supply further specifications connected circumstantial allegations.

The suit says that moreover though location was nary grounds of wrongdoing, nan schoolhouse still took action against Wu pursuing nan NIH investigation. Northwestern did not reside its interactions pinch NIH.

NIH faced backlash for alleged group profiling aft it began sending letters to universities successful 2018 asking them to analyse hundreds of assistance recipients, mostly those pinch collaborators successful China. The letters were portion of an effort by NIH to thwart nan theft of biomedical investigation and intelligence spot by different countries. Lawmakers successful 2020 launched a probe into nan agency arsenic good arsenic nan FBI for their investigations of scientists of Asian descent.

While NIH has said that astir but not each scientists who were being investigated were of Chinese descent, the agency denied group profiling.

“This is not xenophobic racism, this is not targeting and this is not stigma. This is existent theft,” Dr. Michael Lauer, NIH lawman head for extramural research, said of nan agency’s investigations into Asian scientists that showed instances of withholding accusation astir backing sources.

At nan time, nether nan Department of Justice’s China Initiative, a number of scholars of Chinese descent crossed nan state had been accused of espionage, including MIT’s Gang Chen successful 2021, University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Anming Hu successful 2020 and Qing Wang formerly of nan Cleveland Clinic that aforesaid year. All 3 were later acquitted. While nan NIH investigations were not formally portion of nan China Initiative, they drew akin criticisms of discrimination.

The Wu property suit alleges Northwestern discriminated against her during nan investigation by limiting her work, partially closing her laboratory space, breaking up her investigation squad and reassigning her grants to white, antheral module colleagues and isolating her. During a gathering pinch assemblage activity successful which Wu was being told astir nan investigation, she was asked to constitute a “narrative related to activities successful China,” nan suit said.

The family accused nan schoolhouse of group favoritism because nan assemblage had already approved of her interactions successful China and her activity was nationalist domain, nan suit said.Still, nan schoolhouse sought to limit Wu’s activity moreover aft nan investigation had concluded and continued efforts to isolate her, nan suit said.

Jane Wu pinch her children successful Nashville.Courtesy Elizabeth Rao

When nan investigation ended successful 2023, nan assemblage placed “even stronger restrictions to artifact Dr. Wu’s return to her funded technological work,” nan suit said. Among them, nan dean of nan university’s Feinberg School of Medicine, wherever Wu taught, trim her net and raised caller requirements she had to meet to reconstruct her funded status, nan suit said.

Months later, nan schoolhouse continued efforts to artifact Wu’s work, and by May, administrators unopen down her laboratory wholly “without explanation,” nan title said.

The ordeal had contributed to signs of slump and obsessive behaviour successful Wu arsenic she attempted to protect her life’s work, nan title said. She besides suffered from a nonaccomplishment of imagination arsenic a consequence of a changeable she had nether nan accent of nan investigation, nan suit said. But she was still capable to work. The schoolhouse utilized her affectional disablement arsenic a “pretext” to evict her, and successful precocious May, Northwestern sent rule enforcement to region her and spot her successful handcuffs, nan suit said. The schoolhouse past forcibly admitted her to nan psychiatric portion of nan Northwestern Memorial Hospital without notifying loved ones aliases consulting extracurricular doctors, nan suit said.

Northwestern declined to remark astir circumstantial allegations, including those astir salary, rule enforcement and psychiatric treatment.

“The beingness battle directed by NU and nan forced hospitalization sent Dr. Wu into a terrible authorities of shock,” nan title said.

Two weeks aft her merchandise from nan hospital, Wu took her ain life, nan suit said.

In December 2024, NIH released a connection acknowledging that its efforts to protect against concerning activities from China “have had nan consequence of creating a difficult ambiance for our weighted Asian American, Asian migrant and Asian investigation colleagues who whitethorn consciousness targeted and alienated.”

Wu’s communicative has drawn support from a number of members of nan technological organization successful summation to groups for illustration nan Asian American Scholar Forum, which condemned nan school’s curen of nan precocious scientist.

“Universities must beryllium places of community, support, and fairness, not fearfulness and coercion,” said Gisela Perez Kusakawa, executive head of nan Asian American Scholar Forum, successful a connection connected Wu’s death.

For Rao, galore of her champion memories are of Wu arsenic a parent. She described her mother arsenic nan other of nan strict and demanding “tiger mom” stereotype. Throughout Rao’s childhood, nan family lived successful St. Louis, Nashville and past Chicago, she said. And successful each of those cities, Wu “turned elemental houses into lukewarm homes.”

Rao said she and her mother would clasp hands and watch movies aliases immerse themselves successful nan quiz show “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” The 2 would besides singing on to tunes during agelong drives, she said.

“She made judge that my relative and I had sewage not only a awesome acquisition but besides sewage to do each nan worldly of a quintessential American childhood. Sports, roadworthy trips, creation classes, choir, you sanction it,” Rao said.

Rao said that her mother besides near her family pinch a lesson.

“We transportation this pinch us: her upstanding morals and condemnation to conflict against injustice,” she said.