Dean's Message, March 14, 2022

Dear GSBS Community,

March is Women’s History Month, and I wanted to reach out to celebrate women in science. I’m proud that we have women scientists in leadership here, including TUSM Dean Helen Boucher and Provost Caroline Genco, as well as program directors Pilar Alcaide, Katya Heldwein and Pam Yelick. It is also rewarding for me to see that the GSBS student body includes more than 50% women.

However, we still have more work to do. When an undergraduate, I was fortunate to work with two excellent women mentors who at the time ran all women labs (except for me) but saw first-hand how they had to endure discrimination, rude jokes and worse. The film “Picture A Scientist” that we viewed together last year made clear how these wrongs have contributed to talented women quitting science.

Today, women scientists are still subject to harassment, unwanted sexual advances, and discrimination that make it difficult for our women scientists and trainees from reaching their potential. This situation is unacceptable, and we as a community must be vigilant to guard against this behavior. I request that we all take a moment to review the Tufts Sexual Misconduct Policy and the policy on Consensual Relations in order to remind ourselves of how important it is to create an inclusive environment free from discrimination, harassment and inappropriate relationships where each of us can do our science and reach our career goals.

Dan Jay, Dean