Dr Zoe Sun Wiki

                                    Dr Zoe Sun Biography

Who is Dr Zoe Sun ?

A trainee surgeon has been sacked after she waged a smear campaign against innocent senior colleagues when she was exposed for falsifying a major clinical study at Cambridge University.

Dr. Zoe Sun, 37, has accused two doctors of being s*xual pests and made false complaints about other colleagues after she wrongly took credit for a research project funded by pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

She reported the innocent doctors to two police forces and, when told by detectives there was no evidence against them, told supervisors that the couple faced arrest as a criminal investigation into their allegations “was still ongoing.” “.

The research for which Sun took credit later had to be re-analyzed and resubmitted after it was found to contain errors.

She has now been struck off the medical register after a Medical Practicing Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing found her guilty of ‘persistent and willful’ dishonesty.

Incidents

A misconduct panel heard that the incidents began in April 2017 when Sun, who was a trainee in Vascular Surgery at Leeds University Hospitals, was assigned to work in Cambridge as a Clinical Research Associate on a study called OPERA.

Sun’s role within the study was to collect data from the human subjects, analyze the results, and report them to a senior physician in charge of the entire project before they were submitted to GSK.

But in September 2018, he submitted a draft of the study manuscript to the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN): “Recombinant erythropoietin reduces endothelium-mediated vasodilation in predialysis CKD patients: a prospective controlled study.”

It was sent without permission and she had removed the co-authors’ names from her.

When she was told to withdraw the draft manuscript, Sun ignored the instructions and instead emailed a Cambridge University professor saying, “None of them did anything.” GSK has seen the latest version and has given its permission.’

She subsequently resigned from Cambridge University, before making “wide and inaccurate” complaints against her colleagues and wrongly claiming that they had accepted publication of the manuscript.

Sun also claimed that the professor “was in no condition to work in education, research or clinic.”

Told that she would be referred to the General Medical Council (GMC) for misconduct, she lodged a formal complaint against her supervisor, the Deputy Medical Director of Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge.

During July and August 2019, she made several reports of harassment against the doctor and two other colleagues to both West Yorkshire Police and Cambridgeshire Police.

Both police forces told her they would not pursue accusations against her due to lack of evidence, but she told the GMC that two of her colleagues had ‘criminal proceedings against her with a warning from the police for s*xual harassment and defamation of a woman apprentice’.

Investigation

She added: “The investigation is ongoing and the police have issued them a warning and they will be arrested if their actions continue.”

One of the falsely accused doctors, a postgraduate dean at Health Education England also said: “Dr Sun’s behavior has affected me deeply on a personal level.” I have never received an apology or expression of regret from Dr. Sun regarding the accusations she made against me.

Marios Lambis, representing Sun, told the panel that the doctor-in-training’s “ethnic and cultural background” may have contributed to the case.

She said Sun has “acknowledged that her actions and her dishonesty were gross and wrong,” adding that it was a “tragic story of mistakes and missed opportunities.”

Sun, meanwhile, apologized, saying: ‘I misread the facts and perceived a conspiracy of malice against me when there was none.

“I am devastated by my actions and the pain I have caused.”

But MPTS President Paul Curtis said at the hearing that an annulment order was the most appropriate action to take.

He said: ‘Dishonest actions have serious implications for a doctor and the profession as a whole. While the Court noted that Dr. Sun’s actions did not result in direct harm to patients, her dishonesty related to providing false statements, which was particularly serious and caused distress and had significant consequences for her colleagues. .

“The dishonesty included false statements made to Cambridge University, colleagues, two separate police forces and the GMC.

“Dr. Sun submitted a research paper that, when her results were re-analyzed, was found to be inaccurate and potentially misleading.

‘Physicians must be honest and trustworthy and must ensure that their conduct justifies their patients’ trust in them. Dr. Sun’s dishonesty was persistent, deliberate, and continued over a period of 16 months.

“While the Court noted that Dr. Sun does not present a risk to patient safety, it found that steps are necessary to maintain public confidence in the profession.

“Dr. Sun’s dishonest actions have undermined the public’s trust in the medical profession. She is aware that patients should be able to trust the integrity of doctors, and when a doctor undermines that trust, there is a risk to public confidence in the profession.

‘The nature, extent and seriousness of her dishonesty was such that only deletion could be the appropriate and proportionate sanction.’

Dr Zoe Sun Quick and Facts

• Dr Zoe Sun made false complaints to the police about two innocent colleagues 
• Came after she wrongly took credit for Cambridge University research project
• The research Sun took credit for later had to be reanalysed and resubmitted
• The trainee has now been struck off for ‘persistent and deliberate’ dishonesty