Mount Sinai sued over alleged sexism, discrimination

Photo: Pichsakul Promrungsee EyeEm/Getty Images

Four former employees of the Arnhold Institute for Global Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital (AIGH) in New York have filed a lawsuit against the school alleging workplace discrimination and retaliation of a sexist nature, according to the law firm filing the suit, McAllister Olivarius.

The lawsuit alleges that after the school received a $12.5 million commitment from the Arnhold family to expand the team’s work in 2014, Dr. Dennis S. Charney, Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine, hired Dr. Prabhjot Singh, an “inexperienced 32-year-old” still completing his residency, as Director of the Arnhold Institute for Global Health. 

Singh’s appointment came against the advice of a search committee that had previously recommended a highly qualified female candidate, according to the lawsuit.

The people subsequently hired for leadership positions under Charney and Singh were “overwhelmingly young men” who were given more prestigious titles and were paid substantially more than their female counterparts, the suit states. Singh, the filing claims, continuously “gaslit” existing female staff so that they would “voluntarily” leave. By 2018, 13 women had left AIGH.

The filing goes on to claim that defendant Bruno Silva, an employee of Mount Sinai, regularly called women, including fellow employees and donors, making vulgar statements and remarks about their appearance. Silva also allegedly repeatedly slurred a staff member of Pakistani origin, using derogatory language to describe his office. 

Despite these and other allegations repeatedly being brought to Mount Sinai’s leadership, the lawsuit contends the school took a “see no evil” approach. An oversight committee was created to help address the issue, but met infrequently and did not noticeably change things during Singh’s directorship, the suit alleged.

WHAT’S THE IMPACT

The plaintiffs named in the suit include Dr. Natasha Anushri Anandaraja; Dr. Holly Atkinson; Mary Caliendo; and Humale Khan.

Mount Sinai did not immediately respond to a quest for comment.

“Our hope is that this legal process will result in a more equitable work environment for all at Mount Sinai and in academic medicine nationally, especially for gender minorities and BIPOC,” said Anandaraja. “We will continue in our efforts to address the pervasive racism and sexism that exists in our healthcare systems.”

ON THE RECORD

“The lack of oversight by Mount Sinai on Dr. Singh and Dean Charney has not only created a hostile and inhumane work environment for our clients that has had a damaging impact on their professional careers, but has also severely damaged an institute that was previously internationally recognized as a leader in global health education,” said Jef McAllister, co-founding partner at McAllister Olivarius.
 

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