A high-profile vaccine expert lusted after a Northwell Health scientist who repeatedly rejected him, then allegedly got her canned after she joked about bringing a gun to work, she claimed in a lawsuit.
Peter Hotez, a molecular biologist and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine, rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic and is known for tangling with Joe Rogan on social media after the podcaster challenged the scientist to debate vaccines with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
But the married, 68-year-old Hotez’s apparently randy side was revealed in 2024, after he served as a key speaker at a May 2024 Northwell Health symposium and reconnected with former graduate school colleague, Annette Lee, she said in court papers.
Lee, 64, accused Hotez of repeatedly propositioning her even though the two had never been that close.
“Following the symposium, Hotez and Lee had drinks … and Hotez unexpectedly confessed that he had been in love with Lee since graduate school,” she said in a Brooklyn Federal Court lawsuit.
Lee, a leading molecular scientist and dean at Northwell Health’s Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine, claimed Hotez reached out several times throughout 2024.
“He told me about his repeated marital affairs and joked about how much Cialis he had purchased. I was disturbed by all the women he described and told him that being the high-profile person that he is, he should be more discreet and stay out of the backseat of cars,” she alleged in court papers.
“Dr. Hotez told me he would give up all these women for me and I declined and said I did not want to be more than friends and said that I did not want a sexual relationship.”
In August 2024, Lee texted Hotez after an “intensely stressful day” and “joked that [she] should be kept away from a firearm,” she said in the lawsuit, adding, “It was a joke and having known Lee for this long, Hotez would have known it was a joke.”
Instead, Hotez allegedly reported the remark to Lee’s boss, and she was fired weeks later after more than 20 years with Northwell.
The move was retaliation for Lee’s romantic rejections, she claimed in the wrongful termination and discrimination suit against Northwell, which seeks unspecified damages.
Hotez was reviewing the lawsuit, a spokeswoman said.
“He categorically denies Dr. Lee’s characterization of the facts. Otherwise, given the pending litigation, Dr. Hotez will not comment further at this time,” Baylor College rep Claire Bassett said.
Northwell said it was aware of the lawsuit and that the company “prioritizes a safe and respectful environment.”
“We deny allegations that her separation was in any way related to reporting any “romantic overtures” by anyone,” spokeswoman Barbara Osborn said.