NUS professor dismissed over sexual misconduct allegations denies wrongdoing, plans to appeal
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Professor Shawn Chen Xiaoyuan plans to lodge an appeal in the hopes of overturning the university’s decision.
PHOTO: XIAOYUAN (SHAWN) CHEN/LINKEDIN
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SINGAPORE – An NUS biomedical engineering professor who was sacked after a disciplinary panel found him guilty of sexual misconduct has denied the allegations and said he plans to lodge an appeal.
Professor Shawn Chen Xiaoyuan was found to have flouted NUS rules governing staff conduct, a Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine spokesperson said.
The spokesperson, responding to queries, said Prof Chen’s employment with NUS was “terminated in accordance with his employment contract as he was found to have contravened the code of conduct for NUS staff”.
The Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine declined to provide further details.
The professor was sacked after a ruling by an NUS disciplinary panel that was convened when a student accused him of sexual misconduct.
Prof Chen told The Straits Times he was disappointed with the university’s decision and plans to lodge an appeal in the hopes of overturning it.
He said: “I was made aware of the allegations on June 27 when I was back from a conference in the United States.”
The woman who accused him of sexual misconduct was his research assistant and a part-time student, he added.
NUS then carried out an internal probe, which started on June 30 and ended on Dec 19, he said.
Prof Chen also said he did not have anything to do with posts published on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu that sought to defend him. He added that he has not published any formal response to the allegations on his own.
On Dec 27, ST was unable to access Prof Chen’s page on the NUS Department of Biomedical Engineering website, likely because it had been taken down.
The website for Chen Lab, which carries out research on translational nanomedicine and therapeutics and is headed by Prof Chen, was still accessible on Dec 30.
Prof Chen joined NUS in December 2020 and served as the Nasrat Muzayyin Chair Professor in Medicine and Technology, according to his LinkedIn page.
He was also director of the Nanomedicine Translational Research Programme at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
Between Jan 1 and June 30, NUS recorded nine complaints of sexual misconduct, all of which involved students, NUS said in its half-yearly report on sexual misconduct published on Sept 8.
The report details sexual misconduct complaints and the actions taken by NUS.
Three cases involved sexual assault, the report said.
Police reports were lodged in all cases except for one incident, which happened overseas, the report added.
