Prominent immunologist and oncologist Padmanee Sharma defended herself in court on Friday against a lawsuit that alleges she threatened to undermine a junior faculty member’s career, made defamatory comments about the younger scientist, and attempted to take credit for work that she didn’t do.
In legal filings submitted to the Harris County District Court, Sharma said that she made substantial contributions to an immunotherapy project that were ignored, and that a third-party assessment commissioned by MD Anderson Cancer Center concluded Sharma should be given credit for her role. Sharma had previously issued a general denial of the allegations against her and claimed immunity from the suit as a government employee. As part of the University of Texas, MD Anderson is a state institution.
The filing, which was submitted by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and lawyers in his office, also argued that the junior researcher’s lawsuit should be made against MD Anderson, not Sharma, and asked the court to dismiss the suit if it is not amended within 30 days. “Dr. Sharma is not a proper party to this lawsuit; only MDACC is,” the filing states. “This lawsuit is about proper accreditation in scientific literature for research performed at MDACC by MDACC faculty.”