Family sues after researcher’s death, alleging university’s probe led to suicide : NPR

TO MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

The first Trump administration pressured U.S. universities to investigate researchers with ties to China, fearing that China would steal U.S. secrets. It was part of the FBI-led China Initiative, which critics say has ruined careers and lives. NPR’s Emily Feng reports. And a warning: this story is about suicide.

EMILY FENG, BYLINE: Dr. Jane Wu, a neuroscientist, came to the United States 40 years ago for her doctorate, focused on cancer and ALS research.

ELIZABETH RAO: She always found inspiration from brilliant women.

FENG: …Said his daughter, Elizabeth Rao.

RAO: She saw America as a place where women could flourish through their own hard work and intelligence.

FENG: Wu became one of the few women to run a renowned laboratory. Some colleagues cited her as a role model for girl scientists. His laboratory was at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. She was a single mother. She already fought cancer by launching a biology conference.

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JANE WU: So today I’m going to discuss mitochondrial dysfunction.

FENG: And like here, she frequently presented her work.

ARNOLD STRAUSS: Oh, she was very intense in her work.

FENG: Dr. Arnold Strauss, a pediatric cardiologist, was one of Wu’s peers and remembers her as a work-obsessed extrovert.

STRAUSS: Jane always brought her laptop to every interaction we had.

FENG: But in 2019, the National Institutes of Health began investigating its research ties and funding in China, one of dozens of similar cases. The NIH declined to comment on its investigation to NPR, and Wu has consistently denied any wrongdoing. The year the investigation began, it was among six active NIH research grants.

TOM MANIATIS: It’s a huge achievement. I’ve never had six scholarships like that.

FENG: This is Tom Maniatis, a renowned molecular neuroscientist. Wu was formerly a postdoctoral researcher in his lab. A 2023 study of Chinese-American researchers found that nearly three-quarters felt unsafe in the United States because of the type of scrutiny Wu faced. This fear persisted even after the China Initiative ended in 2022. The initiative was widely seen as a failure, resulting in convictions in only about a third of cases, usually on lesser economic charges and not espionage. Wu had been a U.S. citizen since 2000, but she told her peer researchers that she felt targeted as one of the only Asian staff members at the medical school. Strauss remembers that she was upset.

STRAUSS: She was banned from the lab. She had to hand over her grants to another scientist.

FENG: That was in 2019. Wu was never criminally charged, and in 2023, the NIH exonerated her. But Northwestern still refused to return its grants. Then her salary was reduced, citing her lack of research during the time she had been banned from her own laboratory. And when she started looking for new grants, Northwestern told Wu in 2024 they were taking away her lab space, a decision ending her career, Maniatis says.

MANIATIS: Suddenly finding yourself without lab space is a major problem.

FENG: Is it possible to apply for funding without laboratory space?

MANIATIS: No.

FENG: In emails seen by NPR, Wu begged Northwestern to keep its lab space. Northwestern accused her of barricading herself in the lab. And in May 2024, they called campus and Chicago police to evict Wu, who was then committed to the emergency psychiatric ward at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. She was released in June, the day after her grant deadline expired. A few weeks later, Wu committed suicide. She was 60 years old. Rao was so distraught by her mother’s sudden death that for the first few months afterward, she partially lost the ability to speak.

RAO: Yeah. Since then, it’s taken me a while to become more verbal in general.

FENG: And now she and other family members are suing Northwestern for discriminating against Wu and alleging that her mother’s forced internment contributed to her suicide. Northwestern told NPR in an emailed statement that it “vehemently denies” all of the allegations. A few weeks ago, more than 1,000 American researchers, including Nobel laureates, signed a letter to Northwestern protesting the treatment of Jane Wu.

STRAUSS: I think the China Initiative was a total disaster. It was detrimental.

FENG: Strauss was among the signatories.

STRAUSS: It destroyed people’s careers and, of course, his life.

FENG: And he says the China Initiative was a politicization of the National Institutes of Health that should never have happened.

Emily Feng, NPR News.

MARTÍNEZ: If you or someone you know is considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline to 988.

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