Union Protests Pathology Department Amid Whistleblower’s Termination and Falsified Data Allegations

At the beginning of 2022, Dr. Li Jiang was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Pathology. Now, more than seven months pregnant, she’s unemployed and facing deportation.

Dr. Jiang claims her position at UC San Diego was not renewed due to her unwillingness to falsify data after being pressured to do so by her supervisor in January and February.

“When I became a Postdoc at UCSD, I never imagined I would have to choose between participating in unethical research practices or losing my job right before giving birth to my first child,” Dr. Jiang said in a statement to The Triton.

“She cannot fly safely in the current state of her pregnancy,” said Dr. Joyce Chan, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Neuroscience and Academic Workers Union representative. “She may have to give birth here as an illegal immigrant unless the department or UCSD is able to step in and support her.”

Dr. Jiang has not expressed any intention to stay in the country if her employment and visa status end.

According to Dr. Chan, Dr. Jiang’s supervisor understood the precarity of Dr. Jiang’s situation, as an international scholar with a J1 visa, and this contributed to the pressure to “collect and manipulate data in a way that lacked integrity.” After Dr. Jiang refused to do so, her supervisor encouraged her to leave the project and announced she would not reappoint Dr. Jiang, citing insufficient funding. However, union representatives claim the supervisor advertised online to seek a new postdoc to fill Dr. Jiang’s position. The Academic Workers Union did not provide documentation of this job listing when it was requested by The Triton.

After Dr. Jiang became concerned about retaliation, she reached out to UAW 5810, a union of Postdocs and Academic Researchers at UC. The Union later submitted a grievance on her behalf.

On August 4, students and workers led by UAW 2865 and UAW 5810 gathered outside the Biomedical Sciences Building to protest the Department of Pathology’s failure to protect Dr. Jiang as a whistleblower. Dr. Jiang’s struggle underscores the stakes of UAW 2865’s and UAW 5810’s efforts to reform the culture of bullying and intimidation prevalent within research at UCSD. The Union is currently negotiating new contracts with the UC for academic student employees.

“Today we are protesting to demand UCSD continue the appointment of a postdoc in the Department of Pathology named Li Jiang,” said Dr. Chan. According to Dr. Chan, the data falsification has allegedly been going on “for more than a year, potentially several years.” The union claims to have evidence of misconduct occurring as of January 2022.

Chan also stated that “an official report to the office of research integrity was submitted very recently” and that Dr. Jiang filed a grievance with Labor Relations within the past year, alleging retaliation against her as a whistleblower.

Demonstrators criticized both the research misconduct in the Department of Pathology and called upon UCSD to protect whistleblowers. Participants carried signs that read “Pathology, check your data!” and “Chair Gonias, do you condone data falsification?” and chanted “Shame on Wang! Stand with Li!”Those marching also chanted, “No rights, no research!” and “Get out of your labs and into the streets!” Union members also collected signatures for a petition calling on Chancellor Pradeep Khosla to stop retaliation against Dr. Jiang, restore her employment, and “investigate the abuse and … scientific misconduct in this lab.”

The Department of Pathology has not publicly responded to the Union or released a public statement. When The Triton reached out to department Chair Professor Steven Gonias for comment, Gonias said he “became aware of the situation within the last couple of days” and is “hoping to meet with the parties involved as soon as possible.” Gonias emphasized that the university takes “all allegations of retaliation are taken very seriously.” Director of the Research Ethics program Camille Nebeker declined to comment for this story.

This protest came just days after CBS8 San Diego reported that graduate researchers at UCSD faced incidents of alleged verbal and physical harassment by their supervisors, and UCSD failed to respond to their complaints. UAW 2865 is demanding the inclusion of an anti-bullying article in their new contract, which secures the right to a fair grievance process, with a third-party arbitrator and stricter timelines than the current process (a whistleblower retaliation complaint currently has a six-month time frame with the possibility for extension up to 12 months).

Protestors highlighted Dr. Jiang’s situation as an instance where workers’ rights intersect with reproductive health issues and the precarity faced by international academic workers. Union representative and Computer Science graduate student Amy Kanne said that Dr. Jiang is “poised to lose her income, her visa, and her health insurance, all while she is over seven months pregnant.”

Due to her loss of employment, Dr. Jiang will have to return to China, consistent with her J1 working visa. Flying could, however, pose health risks to Dr. Jiang or her child. At the demonstration, one protester carried a sign that read, “Khosla this is NOT what reproductive rights look like.” Chalk writing on the Biomedical Sciences Building read, “No! To firing Pregnant WORKERS!!!” and “Stop Bullying Women Out of SCIENCE!”

“This is part of a bigger pattern of why there is a leaky pipeline in STEM [and] why more women tend to not make it with STEM careers,” Dr. Chan said. “Part of the Union’s demands at UCSD are longer appointment times, better support for women workers and new parents, workers who are pregnant, and better protections for whistleblowers.”

Instances of research misconduct can be reported to Corinne Peek-Asa or Angela McMahill at the Research Integrity Office. Complaints and grievances can be filed through Labor Relations or via UAW 2865.

Dr. Jiang’s future remains uncertain. “I’ve had a lot of sleepless nights, anxiety, and hair loss. If UC doesn’t extend my contract by this coming Sunday, I will be forced to leave the country, which would put me at high risk of pregnancy complications,” her statement read. “With my union, I’m asking UC to do the right thing: investigate the academic misconduct and support me so that I can have a healthy baby.”

If you have any information regarding data falsification at UCSD or have experienced workplace bullying, harassment, or abuse as an Academic Worker please contact our Managing Editor at naughtensarah@gmail.com.

Kate Zegans is a Senior Staff Writer for The Triton.

This article was updated on August 9 at 10:09 pm PST

The following sentences have been added to this article to clarify/amend quotes given by Dr. Joyce Chan in light of calcifications made my Dr. Joyce Chan

The union claims to have evidence of misconduct occurring as of January 2022.

Dr. Jiang has not expressed any plans or intention to stay in the country if her employment and visa status end.

This article was updated on August 8 at 8:42 pm PST

This article previously listed Dr. Jiang as a member of UAW 2865 and indicated that only UAW 5810 was present at the August 4 protest. It has been updated to list Dr. Jiang as a member of UAW 5810, a union representing Postdocs and Academic Researchers at UC, and state that UAW 2865 and UAW 5810 were both present at the August 4 protest.

The following sentence has been updated:

“According to Dr. Chan, Dr. Jiang’s supervisor understood the precarity of Jiang’s situation, as an international scholar with a J1 visa, and this contributed to the pressure to ‘collect and manipulate data in a way that lacked integrity.’”

A previous version of this article read, “According to Dr. Chan, Dr. Jiang’s supervisor understood the precarity of Jiang’s situation and this contributed to the pressure to ‘collect and manipulate data in a way that lacked integrity.’”