July 12, 2025, 6:00 AM CDT
By Kimmy Yam
Their mother was Jane Wu, a Chinese American neuroscientist at Northwestern University whose lab was abruptly shut down in May 2024 following a government investigation into her research activities and ties to China. Wu was never charged, and she died by suicide at 60 years old just months later.
Her family recently filed a lawsuit against the school alleging that Northwestern discriminated against Wu even though she was cleared by shutting down her lab, forcing her into a psychiatric facility against her will and ultimately leading her to take her own life. Wu’s court records do not show any related charges.
Her daughter, Elizabeth Rao, is now speaking to the media for the first time amid the one-year anniversary of Wu’s death. Rao talked about her mother’s legacy and addressed the lawsuit that she hopes will result in the fair treatment of scholars like her mother.
“As painful as it is for us as her family to recount how Northwestern treated her, we are seeking justice to prevent this from happening again to others in the future,” Rao said.
Wu, a neuroscientist, had a nearly 40-year career including nearly two decades at Northwestern, according to the complaint, which said her lab researched tumor development and metastasis, in addition to efforts to fight neurodegenerative diseases. A naturalized citizen, Wu lived in Chicago, enjoyed a wide variety of music ranging from Tanya Tucker to Taiwanese pop musician Teresa Teng and loved spending time with her two children.
In 2019, the National Institutes of Health, a federal medical research agency that operates under the Department of Health and Human services, investigated Wu for any contacts related to China as part of a larger agency effort to investigate foreign influence at U.S. grantee institutions. Her work included “occasional international contacts” in China in addition to Argentina, Britain, Canada and more, the lawsuit said.
While there were never any charges, Northwestern made efforts to limit her from working during the probe, the suit said. And when the investigation failed to turn up any revelations, the school still continued to punish her, the suit said.
“NU did nothing to support her nor help lift the racial stigma placed over Dr. Wu despite her obvious innocence and the enormous funding her work had brought to NU,” the lawsuit said.
The Wu family suit, filed on June 23, says that the school’s treatment of Wu, including its alleged efforts to oust her, her physical eviction from her office and forced hospitalization, was a “substantial and decisive factor in her decision to end her life.” The estate is seeking an unspecified amount in compensatory and punitive damages.
