Inder M Verma

Inder Mohan Verma (born 28 November 1947) is an Indian American molecular biologist, the former Cancer Society Professor of Molecular Biology in the Laboratory of Genetics at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the University of California, San Diego, and former editor-in-chief of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). He is recognized for seminal discoveries in the fields of cancer, immunology, and gene therapy.

In 2017, three female professors filed separate lawsuits against the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, alleging systemic gender discrimination in compensation, funding, laboratory resources, and professional advancement. Two of the complaints identified Verma as an influential senior faculty member whose conduct allegedly contributed to the discriminatory environment.

In April 2018, in a separate matter, Science published accounts from eight women who accused Verma of sexual harassment between 1976 and 2016. Verma denied the allegations. He resigned as editor-in-chief of the journal PNAS in May 2018 and from the Salk Institute in June 2018 while the institute's board was considering the findings of an outside investigation.

Early life and education Inder M. Verma was born in 1947 in Sangrur, Punjab, India and educated at Lucknow University. He received his Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel in 1971.

Career and research After his PhD, Verma conducted his postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Nobel laureate David Baltimore at MIT. In 1974, Verma joined the Salk Institute as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 1979, and professor in 1985. He also holds an adjunct professor appointment at the University of California, San Diego. Among his professional activities, he is a member of the Board of Scientific Governors of The Scripps Research Institute. He is currently at the center of a lawsuit alleging systematic discrimination against women scientists at the Salk Institute.

Verma's work on viruses and cancer led to the identification of several oncogenes, including c-fos, c-jun, v-mos and their function in normal cells. His development of virus mediated gene transfer techniques, including a stripped down version of HIV, the lentiviral vector, has become the foundation for gene therapy to cure several congenital as well as adult onset diseases including cancer. Lentiviral vectors are routinely used in molecular biology laboratories in numerous applications, and in clinical gene therapy they are the most commonly used vector for CAR-T cell immunotherapy.

Salk Institute gender-discrimination lawsuits

In July 2017, Salk professors Victoria Lundblad, Katherine Jones, and Beverly M. Emerson filed separate lawsuits against the Salk Institute, alleging systemic gender discrimination in compensation, access to private funding, laboratory resources, and professional advancement.

In August 2018, a judge dismissed several claims in Emerson's lawsuit, including her claim that Salk had allowed her contract to expire in retaliation for filing suit, but permitted her discriminatory-treatment claim to proceed. Emerson and Salk settled the remaining litigation in November 2018 on undisclosed terms. None of the three lawsuits went to trial.

Verma denied the allegations. He stated that he had not inappropriately touched or made sexually charged comments to anyone affiliated with Salk, had not had an intimate relationship with a Salk colleague, and had not used his position to take advantage of anyone.

On 11 June 2018, Salk announced that its board had met to discuss the investigator's findings and had considered "appropriate responsive action". According to the institute, Verma tendered an unconditional resignation before the board completed its discussions and took formal action; the board then voted unanimously to accept his resignation.

Awards and honors

2009: American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy Outstanding Achievement Award 2008: Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Sciences 2008: AAISCR Lifetime Achievement Award 2006: Member of the American Philosophical Society 2005: Foreign Fellow, Indian National Science Academy (INSA) 2000: Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (revoked) 1999: Member, Institute of Medicine of The National Academy of Sciences (USA) 1998: Associate Member, European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) 1997: Foreign Fellow, The National Academy of Sciences, India 1997: Fellow, American Society for Microbiology 1990: American Cancer Society Professor of Molecular Biology 1988: NIH Outstanding Investigator Award 1987: NIH MERIT Award

Personal life He married Grietje van der Woude in 1973. They have a daughter Simone, who lives in La Jolla. They have twin granddaughters, Sophie and Marijke.