Examples of Bullying in Academic Medicine

In academic medicine, bullying often occurs within hierarchical relationships where one individual has influence over a trainee's, faculty member's, or staff member's evaluations, funding, promotion, authorship, or career progression.

Examples Involving Medical Students, Residents, and Fellows

• A faculty member routinely humiliates a resident during rounds by asking questions intended to embarrass rather than teach and then ridicules the resident in front of colleagues and patients.

• A fellow is repeatedly assigned undesirable call schedules after respectfully questioning a supervisor's clinical decision.

• A student receives disparaging comments about their intelligence or suitability for medicine rather than constructive feedback about performance.

• A program director threatens a negative evaluation if a trainee reports concerns about patient safety or unprofessional conduct.

Examples Involving Research

• A principal investigator removes a junior researcher from a manuscript despite substantial contributions.

• A senior faculty member demands first authorship on projects in which they had minimal involvement.

• A researcher is excluded from laboratory meetings, grant proposals, or research opportunities as punishment for disagreeing with a supervisor.

• A mentor repeatedly delays signing off on a trainee's work, graduation requirements, or grant submissions without legitimate justification.

Examples Involving Faculty

• A department chair systematically excludes a faculty member from committees, leadership opportunities, or important communications.

• A senior leader publicly criticizes a faculty member in meetings while providing different treatment to others with similar performance.

• A junior faculty member is assigned an excessive teaching, clinical, or administrative workload that is significantly different from that of peers.

• A faculty member is threatened with loss of resources, office space, protected time, or promotion opportunities after expressing a differing opinion.

Examples Involving Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work

• A faculty member engaged in health equity or community-engaged research is repeatedly told that their work is "less valuable" than other forms of scholarship despite meeting institutional standards.

• Requests related to diversity, equity, inclusion, or community partnerships are dismissed or belittled in a manner that undermines the individual's professional credibility.

• A faculty member experiences retaliation after raising concerns about inequitable treatment of learners or patients.

Subtle Forms of Academic Bullying

Not all bullying is overt. Some of the most damaging behaviors are subtle:

• Repeatedly ignoring emails or requests necessary for a person's success.

• Withholding information that others receive.

• Excluding someone from meetings where decisions affecting their work are made.

• Moving goalposts for promotion, tenure, or scholarly productivity.

• Providing vague criticism without offering opportunities for improvement.

• Spreading rumors or questioning a person's competence behind their back.

What Distinguishes Bullying from Legitimate Supervision?

A department chair, program director, or mentor may appropriately:

• Hold individuals accountable for performance expectations.

• Provide critical feedback.

• Require remediation for deficiencies.

• Deny promotion when established criteria are not met.

The behavior becomes concerning when it is repeated, targeted, unreasonable, retaliatory, or inconsistent with how others are treated, particularly when it exploits a power differential.

Academic Medicine Example

Consider a junior faculty member who receives strong annual evaluations. After disagreeing with a department leader on a research or administrative issue, the faculty member is excluded from meetings, denied access to previously available resources, publicly criticized, and given an unusually heavy workload compared with peers. If this pattern persists and appears retaliatory, many institutions would view such behavior as potential academic bullying rather than routine management.

Academic bullying is increasingly recognized as a threat to faculty well-being, learner development, psychological safety, and patient care quality. Many academic health centers now address it through professionalism policies, Faculty Affairs offices, ombuds services, and anti-retaliation procedures.