The ANU Medical School has announced it is cracking down on bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
On Monday the school launched a new guide to help students deal with the issues, following established reports they are rife in the medical profession.
Medical School Dean Professor Imogen Mitchell referenced the controversial comments of Dr Gabrielle McMullin when speaking about the need for action.
"Nearly two years ago Dr Gabrielle McMullin, a Sydney vascular surgeon, made the rather provocative statement that young women in the field should probably accept unwanted sexual advances because coming forward could ruin their careers," Professor Mitchell said.
"And whilst I don't support the concept, it did allow me the opportunity to think.
"No longer can the school stand back and watch, in the full knowledge that our students might be suffering the same situation."
A study published in the Medical Journal of Australia in 2015 found 74 per cent of medical students had been "humiliated" by colleagues.
In 2016 a Senate inquiry found the bullying of young doctors was a significant cultural problem.
"The school acknowledges this is a problem in the wider medical profession and wants to proactively work with students and our faculty members to improve the experience of our medical students," Professor Mitchell said.
"We make it very clear that bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination have no place in the medical profession and won't be tolerated at the ANU Medical School."
Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt AC said the school, and the university as a whole, would no longer tolerate bad behaviour.
"This is something that the medical school has developed itself," he said.
"But it fits in so well with what we are doing at the university, which is to stigmatise bad behaviour so it doesn't happen.
"[The guide] makes it very clear what our expectations are. It makes it very clear what to do if you are affected."
Professor Schmidt said the school needed to take leadership in addressing the problem at a nationwide level.
"Bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination are not limited to the medical school. But the medical fraternity has a reputation which we here at ANU can go out and help mend.
"We can mend it by having zero tolerance to bad behaviour.
"That zero tolerance has been in place for the last year. But let me just say out in the open, it's there."
