Cardiologist sent thousands of texts to young employee he is ...
One of Australia’s top cardiologists, a world-leading expert in cardio-genetics, is accused of sexually harassing a young female employee in a pattern of behaviour that allegedly escalated from constant text messaging to unwelcome touching and surprise visits to the complainant’s apartment.
Jennifer de Jongh, 28, has lodged a Federal Court sexual harassment claim against Professor Chris Semsarian, 57, who is a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), and deputy director and noted fundraiser for the Centenary Institute, a medical research organisation supported by Sydney University and NSW Health but financed through philanthropy.
Jennifer de Jongh in Norway, where she moved after she quit her job in Sydney.Credit: Egidijus Narvydas
Despite the sexual harassment claim, which includes details of thousands of text messages sent over six months, and allegations he touched de Jongh on the buttock, the Centenary Institute has not investigated or spoken to staff about the matter.
In a statement to this masthead, Semsarian said he refuted the claims of sexual harassment and would be “vigorously defending” them in a legal defence to be filed shortly.
De Jongh, who has moved to Norway, says Semsarian began supervising her when she was a 27-year-old genetic counsellor at the Centenary Institute in June 2022.
“I was very junior and there was no support from Centenary or NSW Health even when this was in plain sight,” she told this masthead.
Denies the claims: Professor Chris Semsarian.
“Chris Semsarian was my boss and my supervisor. I relied heavily on him to show me how to do my job.”
The Harvard-educated Semsarian is also the cardiologist for the Australian cricket team and a professor of medicine at Sydney University.
De Jongh’s statement of claim shows Semsarian’s attention began the day she started work on June 14, 2022, when he took his junior for coffee.
Two days later, Semsarian offered her a lift home, which she declined. He repeated his offer, which she again declined, beginning a pattern of pressure that the complainant alleges escalated, with between 3000 and 4000 text messages exchanged between June and December 2022.
In the entire period, there were only seven days when he did not message the complainant, the claim alleges. Many of the texts were sent within minutes of each other, often very late in the evening.
At one point Semsarian tells de Jongh he has been diagnosed with “J-SAD, Jen-related Separation Anxiety Disorder” and the “only treatment” was a “drink/dinner with Jen”.
“The frequency of contact kept increasing,” de Jongh said when approached by this masthead.
“He wanted to drive me home every day that he could. He would insist on coffee in the morning and then lock me in for a ride home that evening. Then he would text at 5pm and say, ‘I’m coming to take you home.’ In the car he would say, ‘We are going for dinner’. He wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
According to the statement of claim, on August 6, 2022, Semsarian asked de Jongh: “Do you reckon we have a bit of a connection??” with two love heart emojis.
A couple of days later he pressed her for coffee saying, “I don’t want to sound pathetic but I won’t see you for the rest of the week”, with a sad-face emoji.
For the rest of August, the statement of claim alleges, he texted her constantly, asking for coffee, while saying “I don’t want to sound too needy”.
The claim shows flurries of texts where he asked her “Seriously, do we have a connection?? It’s scary!!” and “Why do you think I ask the night before if you can do coffee … so I go to sleep happy and wake up excited … I love your company.”
Jen de Jongh says she was bombarded with messages from Semsarian.Credit: Egidijus Narvydas
He also texted that he “felt instantly connected” to de Jongh when he interviewed her for her job and said, “So glad God crossed our paths” and “You are NEVER allowed to leave me!! EVER [laughing emojis] I will kidnap you if you try to leave. Again, God at work aligning everything perfectly.”
The text messages show Semsarian repeatedly told de Jongh she was “cute” and “very photogenic” with “many beautiful qualities”, “amazing”, “a kind and caring person”, and “sweet”, and she made him smile. He said she was a “sweetheart” and “I know, bc [because] I am a cardiologist!”
At nearly 9pm on October 6, he texted: “I really truly get excited going to sleep knowing we’re having coffee together tmr [tomorrow] – NOT with [another colleague] added on”, with two laughing emojis.
A minute later he texted “I have separation anxiety overnight!!!” with a smiling face and a love heart emoji.
De Jongh told this masthead: “He would often compliment my clothing and stare at my chest, and he would say inappropriate things that made me feel uncomfortable.”
Semsarian ramped up his alleged harassment of the complainant by repeatedly insisting she accept lifts home from him, according to the claim, telling her, “I def have to drive you home!! No argument. It’s been too long!!” and “I’m taking you to Waterloo. Period! No arguments. See you at 5pm.”
On September 18, he texted: “I’m having Jen withdrawals” and reproached her that “I think you have forgotten about Chris” with a sad-face emoji.
While on an overseas work trip, on September 21 at 11.08pm, he texted de Jongh a photo of his hotel bed.
The behaviour allegedly continued throughout October, with Semsarian texting “I miss you on weekends” and on another occasion, texting her at nearly 11pm on a weeknight saying it was “9 and a bit hours” until their coffee meeting, adding the smiling face emoji that has three hearts around it.
During a lift home on October 17, Semsarian touched her buttock, the claim alleges.
This alleged pattern of behaviour culminated in Semsarian showing up uninvited at de Jongh’s apartment on Saturday, October 29.
De Jongh says she never told Semsarian her apartment number and doesn’t know how he discovered it.
When she went downstairs, Semsarian presented her with a pair of Apple AirPods Max earphones, which retail today for $899. Against her protests, he insisted she accept them.
On October 26, 2022, de Jongh met a friend for dinner in Bondi and Semsarian insisted he drive her there.
According to the statement of claim, during the drive he said words to the effect that “No means no to everyone, except if you say it to me” and “If I offer you dinner you can’t say no, if I offer you a ride home, you can’t say no”; before protesting that, “it was just a joke, don’t be so uptight about it”.
He then asked de Jongh if she had been sexually abused, saying “I got [that] impression from how you reacted to something the other day”.
The allegedly relentless contact continued, and on November 16 de Jongh told her boss at the institute she was “feeling overwhelmed with the volume and content of Professor Semsarian’s texts, that she sometimes felt uncomfortable and that she wanted to keep their communication work related”.
But, according to the claim, this did not deter the professor. He texted that afternoon saying “Big storm coming. Just saying” with two smiley face emojis, and then, when she declined the implied offer of a lift, he texted, “All good. I’ll come say goodbye in a few minutes?”
He then met her in the foyer of the Centenary Institute and hugged her, according to the statement of claim.
In late November de Jongh took leave and feigned illness because she was distressed by what she alleges was contact that was “persistent, continuous and of high volume” and “had content or a tone that was personal rather than professional”.
Semsarian, who is married with children, continued to text her, despite believing she was on sick leave, and made video calls to her, which she did not answer.
“I felt I had no way out. I would have to leave and start all over again. Jobs in genetic counselling are hard to come by. I didn’t think there was going to be any resolution,” she told this masthead.
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“I was seeking medical help and was at such a low point by then.”
She said that when she tried to assert boundaries to make the behaviour stop, Semsarian would react with hostility.
“I would be in the bad books the next day,” she said. “He would give me the cold shoulder. A couple of times he belittled me in a meeting after he perceived I had rejected him.”
On December 5, de Jongh resigned from the Centenary Institute. Three days later, phone records in the statement of claim show Semsarian attempted to call her twice, about 6pm; then at 6.04pm he turned up at her apartment, buzzing her intercom “multiple times”.
De Jongh did not answer, and her flatmate telephoned Semsarian and warned him to stay away.
De Jongh blocked his number. She is staying in Norway and has not returned to work since her resignation.
“When it comes to the thought of working again I have panic attacks and can’t do it,” she says.
“Semsarian is of huge stature in medicine and drives a lot of funding to the institute. He has such an influence, even among people in the non-cardiology world. He has connections everywhere.”
De Jongh submitted her claim with the Human Rights Commission in July 2023, but a conciliation between the parties in late 2023 failed to resolve the case.
“I loved my job. I never wanted a case out of this,” she says. “I feared when I left, there would just be another woman.”
Solicitor Hayden Stephens, who is acting for de Jongh, said: “These are clearly serious allegations and yet neither employer [Centenary Institute or NSW Health] has seen fit to interview Jen and launch an independent investigation.
“Staff and colleagues familiar with this case are frustrated. In their eyes, the Centenary Institute has chosen to protect and stand by their man.”
The Centenary Institute said that it was in the process of filing its defence and was “unable to comment on this specific situation” but said the institute takes “eliminating harassment in the workplace incredibly seriously”.
A spokesman for NSW Health said it was “not appropriate to make any comment”.
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