Jason Altom (6 October 1971 – 15 August 1998) was an American

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

student working in the research group of

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

Elias James Corey Elias James Corey (born July 12, 1928) is an American organic chemist. In 1990, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his development of the theory and methodology of organic synthesis", specifically retrosynthetic analysis. Regarded by ma ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He died by suicide in 1998 by ingesting

potassium cyanide Potassium cyanide is a compound with the formula KCN. It is a colorless salt, similar in appearance to sugar, that is highly soluble in water. Most KCN is used in gold mining, organic synthesis, and electroplating. Smaller applications include ...

, citing "abusive research supervisors" in his suicide note as one reason for taking his life. Altom was studying a complex natural product and experienced significant pressure to complete the molecule before starting his academic career. Altom's suicide highlighted the pressures on PhD students, problems of isolation in graduate school, and sources of tension between graduate mentors and their students. His case prompted many US universities to insist that PhD students have an advisory committee in addition to a supervisor, to whom they might turn for support: James Anderson, who became Harvard Chemistry Department Chairman, stated that "Jason's death prompted an examination of the role the department should play in graduate students' lives". Anderson went on to promise that students will also have "confidential and seamless access" to psychological counselling services, paid for by the department. Harvard students are eligible for "as many visits as medically necessary" for mental health services through university health services (unless they opt out of the Student Health Fee), and can receive up to 52 visits per plan year under the Student Health Insurance Plan. As part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Harvard Graduate Students Union and the university's administration, a fund was created to reimburse members "of any copays and other out-of-pocket medical expenses" incurred under the Student Health Insurance Plan; in 2024, it holds $530,000. The collective bargaining agreement also forces the university administration to disclose mental health resources to the union. The molecule whose synthesis Altom was attempting to complete,

aspidophytine Aspidophytine is an indole alkaloid that has attracted significant attention from synthetic chemists.''"A Concise Asymmetric Total Synthesis of Aspidophytine" ''Nicolaou, K. C., Dalby, S. M., Majumder, U. ''J. Am. Chem. Soc.'' 2008, ''1 ...

, was subsequently completed by

postdoctoral research A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

associates and published in the ''

Journal of the American Chemical Society The ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' (also known as JACS) is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1879 by the American Chemical Society. The journal has absorbed two other publications in its history, the ...

'' in 1999.) The article was dedicated to Altom's memory.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Altom, Jason 1971 births 1998 deaths 1998 suicides Suicides by cyanide poisoning Suicides in Massachusetts Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni

See also

References