# Mark Siddall

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mark_Siddall
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mark_Siddall.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Siddall
> Source revision: 1344164533
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

**Mark E. Siddall** is a Canadian biologist and former curator[1] at the [American Museum of Natural History](/source/American_Museum_of_Natural_History). Siddall has studied the [evolution](/source/Evolutionary_biology) and [systematics](/source/Systematics) of blood parasites and [leeches](/source/Leech), and systematic theory[2].[citation needed] Siddall was hired as an assistant curator at the [American Museum of Natural History](/source/American_Museum_of_Natural_History) in July, 1999[3] and worked there as a curator until September, 2020, when he was terminated for allegedly having violated the museum's policy prohibiting sexual relationships between staff and mentees. Siddall denied the claim.[1]

## Education

Siddall completed a Masters[4] and PhD[5] under the supervision of Sherwin S. Desser at the [University of Toronto](/source/University_of_Toronto) in 1991 and 1994, respectively.[6]

## Career

After completing his PhD, Siddall completed a postdoc at the [Virginia Institute of Marine Science](/source/Virginia_Institute_of_Marine_Science).[7] Subsequently, he was a fellow in the Michigan Society of Fellows from 1996-1999.[8] He also acted as treasurer of the [Willi Hennig Society](/source/Willi_Hennig_Society), publisher of the journal *[Cladistics](/source/Cladistics_(journal))*.[9]

Siddall has worked and published on parasitic and other animals, including leeches,[10] jellyfish,[11] guinea worms,[12] and bed bugs.[13][14]

He is author of the science book *Poison: Sinister Species with Deadly Consequences*.[15]

In 2016, Siddall, [Jonathan Eisen](/source/Jonathan_Eisen), and others were involved in the Twitter controversy #ParsimonyGate.[9]

The [American Museum of Natural History](/source/American_Museum_of_Natural_History) fired Siddall in September 2020 for alleged [sexual harassment](/source/Sexual_harassment), citing museum policy that prohibits sexual relationships between staff and mentees under their academic supervision.[1] An outside law firm representing the museum's interests found that Siddall had "engaged in verbal, written, and physical conduct of a sexual nature that had the effect of unreasonably interfering with your academic performance."[1] Siddall denied that any sexual encounter ever took place, and claimed he was fired because "he had found a serious error" in a paper.[1]

## Research

Siddall studies [phylogenetics](/source/Phylogenetics) and evolution.[10] Siddall has been described as "a staunch supporter of [parsimony](/source/Maximum_parsimony_(phylogenetics)) and a harsh critic of maximum likelihood approaches”, although "having mellowed a bit on that".[7]

## References

1. Jacobs, Julia (October 2, 2020). ["Museum Fires Curator Who It Says Sexually Harassed Student Researcher"](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/arts/mark-siddall-sexual-harassment.html). *New york Times*

1. Siddall, Mark & Kluge, Arnold (December 1997). "Probabilism and phylogenetic inference.". *Cladistics*. **13** (4): 313–336. [doi:10.1006/clad.1997.0046](https://doi.org/10.1006/clad.1997.0046). [hdl:2027.42/71951](https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/71951)

1. ["INTRODUCTION OF PRESIDENT MARK E. SIDDALL"](https://www.proquest.com/openview/826ba0e832e279739fb0691b74b947f6/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=41450). *ProQuest*

1. ["U of T Magazine | Winter 2014"](https://issuu.com/uoftmagazine/docs/winter14/62). *Issuu*. 10 December 2013.

1. ["Mark Siddall"](https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/participants/mark_siddall/). World Science Festival. Retrieved 2021-03-12.

1. Siddall, Mark E. (2016). "Presidential Address: Reinvention and Resolve". *The Journal of Parasitology*. **102** (6): 566–571. [doi:10.1645/16-113](https://doi.org/10.1645/16-113). [JSTOR 44810235](https://www.jstor.org/stable/44810235). [PMID 27626125](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27626125). [S2CID 11802614](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:11802614)

1. Burreson, Eugene M.; Siddall, Mark E.; Connors, Vincent A. (2002). "Society Business". *The Journal of Parasitology*. **88** (6): 1053–1070. [doi:10.1645/0022-3395(2002)088\[1053:IOMESA](https://doi.org/10.1645/0022-3395(2002)088%5B1053:IOMESA%5D2.0.CO;2)2.0.CO;2]. [JSTOR 3285473](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3285473). [PMID 12537094](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12537094). [S2CID 44766356](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:44766356)

1. ["All Events | U-M LSA University of Michigan Herbarium"](https://lsa.umich.edu/herbarium/news-events/all-events.detail.html/37412-6534097.html). *lsa.umich.edu*

1. ["Twitter Nerd-Fight Reveals a Long, Bizarre Scientific Feud"](https://www.wired.com/2016/02/twitter-nerd-fight-reveals-a-long-bizarre-scientific-feud/). *Wired*. [ISSN 1059-1028](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1059-1028). Retrieved 2021-06-26.

1. Zimmer, Carl (2006-02-07). ["His Subject: Highly Evolved and Exquisitely Thirsty"](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/07/science/his-subject-highly-evolved-and-exquisitely-thirsty.html). *The New York Times*. [ISSN 0362-4331](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved 2021-04-13.

1. Yong, Ed (2016-08-22). ["A Tiny Jellyfish Relative Just Shut Down Yellowstone River"](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/08/the-parasite-that-just-shut-down-a-montana-river-has-an-unbelievable-origin/496817/). *The Atlantic*. Retrieved 2021-04-13.

1. Palmer, Brian (2015-03-10). ["We're on the Verge of the Greatest Public Health Triumph of the 21st Century"](https://slate.com/technology/2015/03/guinea-worm-eradication-nylon-filters-and-caring-about-others-bring-a-public-health-victory.html). *Slate Magazine*. Retrieved 2021-04-13.

1. Borel, Brooke (2016-02-02). ["Bed bug genome shows how gnarly these creatures really are"](https://www.theverge.com/2016/2/2/10891676/bed-bug-genome-sequencing-findings-nature-communications). *The Verge*. Retrieved 2021-04-13.

1. Kolbert, Elizabeth. ["Old Bugs"](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/30/old-bugs). *The New Yorker*. Retrieved 2021-04-13.

1. Mark Siddall (2014). [*Poison: Sinister Species with Deadly Consequences*](https://books.google.com/books?id=4PVBmQEACAAJ). Sterling Publishing Company, Incorporated. ISBN 978-1-4549-0764-0.

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mark Siddall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Siddall) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Siddall?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.