Columbia, ‘Acclaimed’ Epidemiologist Face Sex Harassment Trial

A female Columbia University physician may be able to prove she experienced sexual harassment when a male doctor she once lived with twice dropped his pants so she could examine lesions on his buttocks, the Southern District of New York ruled.

The university and Walter Ian Lipkin must face trial on Mady Hornig’s hostile work environment claims under the New York City Human Rights Law, the court said. The incidents occurred a few years after Hornig and Lipkin, an “acclaimed scientist,” ended their long-term relationship in 2011. The two doctors worked together in Columbia’s Center for Infection and Immunity, the ...