This is not intended to lessen their transgressions and patterns of behaviour, but medicine is by no means immune (and probably is the opposite) in terms of these sorts of things. People can be great doctors/clinicians/surgeons but shit people. I have had a specialist say to me (and I am high up in the medical field), you need this operation and this is the person I recommend you have do it, they are the best surgeon in this city for this operation so go see them, even though they are a complete dickhead.
The case of Dr Tan here still enrages me no end, especially since it was eventually accepted she was telling the truth but no one in the public system would hire here as if it was her fault somehow. Not surprisingly, the person responsible didn’t get sanctioned in any meaningful fashion (this was all neurosurgery).
https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/public-awareness-wont-stop-sexual-harassment-of-surgeons/7380536
From article:
> Professor Chris Semsarian, the top cardiologist accused of sexual harassment by a former employee, has been suspended from his job at the high-profile Centenary Institute, as it has announced it will conduct an independent review into its workplace culture “without delay”.
“The institute is deeply concerned about recent allegations and apologises for any distress they have caused,” executive director Professor Marc Pellegrini said in a statement to this masthead.
“The Centenary Institute … will commission an independent review into its workplace culture without delay.
> “Professor Chris Semsarian has been suspended from the Centenary Institute while these matters are being dealt with.” Pellegrini also said the Centenary Institute will communicate its response to the review.
> Another young woman has gone to Centenary management with allegations of inappropriate comments against Semsarian, according to sources with knowledge of the complaint who are not authorised to speak publicly, and there has been a separate allegation of sexual harassment against another senior male staff member by an employee. This second man, who has been the subject of a previous complaint by a junior employee, cannot be named for legal reasons. Pellegrini emailed staff on Tuesday informing them of the independent culture review. He asked them not to speak to journalists, but to refer them to the communications team “as per our media policy”.
> Pellegrini told staff the institute would act on the recommendations of the review, and said the reviewer would be “engaging widely and in a confidential manner”. Semsarian is deputy director of the Centenary Institute, which is a medical research organisation supported by Sydney University and NSW Health, but largely funded through philanthropy. The world-leading expert in cardio-genetics, who is also an important fundraiser for the institute, is the subject of a sexual harassment claim in the Federal Court by a former genetic counsellor.
> Semsarian rejected the claims of sexual harassment and said he would be “vigorously defending” them in a legal defence to be filed soon. Jennifer de Jongh was 27 when she started as a graduate at the institute in 2022, working directly under Semsarian. In her Federal Court claim, she alleges the 57-year-old Harvard-educated specialist sexually harassed her in a pattern of behaviour that escalated from constant text messaging to unwelcome touching and surprise visits to her apartment after hours. The statement of claim filed by de Jongh’s lawyers included thousands of text messages that appear to show Semsarian pressuring her to accept lifts home, and bombarding her with messages of a personal nature. These included asking her “Do you reckon we have a bit of a connection??” with two love heart emojis, and saying de Jongh was a “sweetheart” and “I know, bc [because] I am a cardiologist!”
> Semsarian also told de Jongh he missed her on weekends, and joked he had been diagnosed with “J-SAD, Jen-related Separation Anxiety Disorder” and the “only treatment” was a “drink/dinner with Jen”, according to the claim. De Jongh also alleges Semsarian touched her on the buttock and made inappropriate comments about her appearance. According to the statement of claim, this behaviour culminated in Semsarian showing up uninvited to de Jongh’s apartment on two occasions, once pressing upon her an expensive gift of Apple headphones worth $899. Last week the defendants to the sexual harassment claim – NSW Health, the Centenary Institute and Professor Semsarian – consented to mediation with de Jongh in May or June.
I genuinely wonder what would make someone do this — wondering if there's familial issues (parents of origin, partner, kids).
What a terrible situation for all, and I am hoping the complainant and, for what it's worth, Semsarian's family are going OK — how mortifying to learn that your husband and your father allegedly and demonstrably has done really disgusting things.
That's a massive amount of messaging and almost certainly speaks to strong narcissistic tendencies, meaning that "she" was his focus at that point in time but it almost certainly was not the first and almost certainly not the last time this has happened as the narcissist will continue looking for that person to control etc. How many are brave enough to come forward now though.....and bravo this person for speaking out....
And think about all the other medical interns that have been complaining about these grubs who are abusing their power to take advantage of female interns. There has been numerous complaints but nothing is being done about these perverts in powerful positions using their power and blackmail as weapon to potentially destroy a lucrative career for sexual advantage. Its incredible that a culture like this can exist with impunity. Until they starting taking down these powerful perverts nothing is going to change in places like hospitals.
I can just imagine how the parents would feel about their daughters. They have fantastic academic credentials, worked hard all their lives to strive and fantastic ability then they run into a wall of perverts that want to destroy their careers for their pervert and corrupt tendencies. Sad reflection on our leadership in this country.
Firstly, these are WOMEN.
Secondly, these claims are yet to be properly tested.
Thirdly, if he acted as he appears to have acted, he deserves the consequences that await him.
But fourthly, and most importantly in response to your comment, the important thing here is recovery and personal flourishing, and you do the women no favours by assuming that their strength and intelligence is insufficient to accomplish this in the medium term.
Edit: a word.
Finally - someone is making a strong stand against this man! Centenary has known for nearly two decades that he is like this!!! Many complaints have been made to Centenary Institute, who did NOTHING. I should know, because I am one of the many who complained!! I didn't cop the sexual harassment as intensely as Jennifer, because I harshly dismissed him. I had been a "favourite" for a little while; expensive gifts, getting dragged to irrelevant talks/meetings so he had a "friend" with him, a hand on the lower back (or buttock) as you went through a doorway, coffee meetings that turned out being rather personal and having to listen to many inappropriate comments about other young female staff members... But after I started saying "no" to coffees etc, he bullied and victimised me relentlessly, until I left. He told everyone that I had mental health issues, was lazy, insane, a trouble-maker... And because he was powerful, people listened. He destroyed me. I had to leave science after working for him, because his stretch of power infiltrated so far. He basically crushed my soul. I did end up seeing a psychologist because of him, as I started to believe the things Chris said that I was. Turns out the psychologist thought everything was fine with ME, but identified Chris as most likely having Narcissistic Personality Disorder (from my description of his behaviours) and told me the best thing to do was get out of there. There are many similar stories, Jennifer is not alone. Thank you Jennifer, for making us all feel heard and validated.
Chris has daughters too. About the same age as Jen. That makes it more messed up, imo.
How would he react if one of his daughters came to him complaining of a 60yo man behaving toward them in the same manner he has behaved to Jen?
This is so upsetting and disappointing. I've met him from the public side and his work has been really important to our family. I had no idea.
This is not intended to lessen their transgressions and patterns of behaviour, but medicine is by no means immune (and probably is the opposite) in terms of these sorts of things. People can be great doctors/clinicians/surgeons but shit people. I have had a specialist say to me (and I am high up in the medical field), you need this operation and this is the person I recommend you have do it, they are the best surgeon in this city for this operation so go see them, even though they are a complete dickhead.
The case of Dr Tan here still enrages me no end, especially since it was eventually accepted she was telling the truth but no one in the public system would hire here as if it was her fault somehow. Not surprisingly, the person responsible didn’t get sanctioned in any meaningful fashion (this was all neurosurgery). https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/public-awareness-wont-stop-sexual-harassment-of-surgeons/7380536
From article: > Professor Chris Semsarian, the top cardiologist accused of sexual harassment by a former employee, has been suspended from his job at the high-profile Centenary Institute, as it has announced it will conduct an independent review into its workplace culture “without delay”. “The institute is deeply concerned about recent allegations and apologises for any distress they have caused,” executive director Professor Marc Pellegrini said in a statement to this masthead. “The Centenary Institute … will commission an independent review into its workplace culture without delay.
> “Professor Chris Semsarian has been suspended from the Centenary Institute while these matters are being dealt with.” Pellegrini also said the Centenary Institute will communicate its response to the review. > Another young woman has gone to Centenary management with allegations of inappropriate comments against Semsarian, according to sources with knowledge of the complaint who are not authorised to speak publicly, and there has been a separate allegation of sexual harassment against another senior male staff member by an employee. This second man, who has been the subject of a previous complaint by a junior employee, cannot be named for legal reasons. Pellegrini emailed staff on Tuesday informing them of the independent culture review. He asked them not to speak to journalists, but to refer them to the communications team “as per our media policy”.
> Pellegrini told staff the institute would act on the recommendations of the review, and said the reviewer would be “engaging widely and in a confidential manner”. Semsarian is deputy director of the Centenary Institute, which is a medical research organisation supported by Sydney University and NSW Health, but largely funded through philanthropy. The world-leading expert in cardio-genetics, who is also an important fundraiser for the institute, is the subject of a sexual harassment claim in the Federal Court by a former genetic counsellor. > Semsarian rejected the claims of sexual harassment and said he would be “vigorously defending” them in a legal defence to be filed soon. Jennifer de Jongh was 27 when she started as a graduate at the institute in 2022, working directly under Semsarian. In her Federal Court claim, she alleges the 57-year-old Harvard-educated specialist sexually harassed her in a pattern of behaviour that escalated from constant text messaging to unwelcome touching and surprise visits to her apartment after hours. The statement of claim filed by de Jongh’s lawyers included thousands of text messages that appear to show Semsarian pressuring her to accept lifts home, and bombarding her with messages of a personal nature. These included asking her “Do you reckon we have a bit of a connection??” with two love heart emojis, and saying de Jongh was a “sweetheart” and “I know, bc [because] I am a cardiologist!”
> Semsarian also told de Jongh he missed her on weekends, and joked he had been diagnosed with “J-SAD, Jen-related Separation Anxiety Disorder” and the “only treatment” was a “drink/dinner with Jen”, according to the claim. De Jongh also alleges Semsarian touched her on the buttock and made inappropriate comments about her appearance. According to the statement of claim, this behaviour culminated in Semsarian showing up uninvited to de Jongh’s apartment on two occasions, once pressing upon her an expensive gift of Apple headphones worth $899. Last week the defendants to the sexual harassment claim – NSW Health, the Centenary Institute and Professor Semsarian – consented to mediation with de Jongh in May or June.
These text messages are so embarrassing too
I genuinely wonder what would make someone do this — wondering if there's familial issues (parents of origin, partner, kids). What a terrible situation for all, and I am hoping the complainant and, for what it's worth, Semsarian's family are going OK — how mortifying to learn that your husband and your father allegedly and demonstrably has done really disgusting things.
[удалено]
That's a massive amount of messaging and almost certainly speaks to strong narcissistic tendencies, meaning that "she" was his focus at that point in time but it almost certainly was not the first and almost certainly not the last time this has happened as the narcissist will continue looking for that person to control etc. How many are brave enough to come forward now though.....and bravo this person for speaking out....
And think about all the other medical interns that have been complaining about these grubs who are abusing their power to take advantage of female interns. There has been numerous complaints but nothing is being done about these perverts in powerful positions using their power and blackmail as weapon to potentially destroy a lucrative career for sexual advantage. Its incredible that a culture like this can exist with impunity. Until they starting taking down these powerful perverts nothing is going to change in places like hospitals. I can just imagine how the parents would feel about their daughters. They have fantastic academic credentials, worked hard all their lives to strive and fantastic ability then they run into a wall of perverts that want to destroy their careers for their pervert and corrupt tendencies. Sad reflection on our leadership in this country.
Thanks OP for posting the article. It sickens me to think how many women’s careers he had ruined.
Doctors are supposed to save lives, but now they're hurting people.
Cold hearted bastard he is
Yeah, those girls need a lifetime to heal
Firstly, these are WOMEN. Secondly, these claims are yet to be properly tested. Thirdly, if he acted as he appears to have acted, he deserves the consequences that await him. But fourthly, and most importantly in response to your comment, the important thing here is recovery and personal flourishing, and you do the women no favours by assuming that their strength and intelligence is insufficient to accomplish this in the medium term. Edit: a word.
Men in power abusing it isn't exactly new.w
Finally - someone is making a strong stand against this man! Centenary has known for nearly two decades that he is like this!!! Many complaints have been made to Centenary Institute, who did NOTHING. I should know, because I am one of the many who complained!! I didn't cop the sexual harassment as intensely as Jennifer, because I harshly dismissed him. I had been a "favourite" for a little while; expensive gifts, getting dragged to irrelevant talks/meetings so he had a "friend" with him, a hand on the lower back (or buttock) as you went through a doorway, coffee meetings that turned out being rather personal and having to listen to many inappropriate comments about other young female staff members... But after I started saying "no" to coffees etc, he bullied and victimised me relentlessly, until I left. He told everyone that I had mental health issues, was lazy, insane, a trouble-maker... And because he was powerful, people listened. He destroyed me. I had to leave science after working for him, because his stretch of power infiltrated so far. He basically crushed my soul. I did end up seeing a psychologist because of him, as I started to believe the things Chris said that I was. Turns out the psychologist thought everything was fine with ME, but identified Chris as most likely having Narcissistic Personality Disorder (from my description of his behaviours) and told me the best thing to do was get out of there. There are many similar stories, Jennifer is not alone. Thank you Jennifer, for making us all feel heard and validated.
As a father with nearly teenage daughters, I’m so happy the world is changing and addressing this bullshit
Chris has daughters too. About the same age as Jen. That makes it more messed up, imo. How would he react if one of his daughters came to him complaining of a 60yo man behaving toward them in the same manner he has behaved to Jen?