A Harvard Medical School professor was arrested last week on charges stemming from alleged domestic violence incidents in 2023 and 2026, according to a Brookline Police Department report obtained by The Crimson.
Feng Tian, an assistant professor of neurology at HMS, faces two counts each of assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a pregnant victim, and domestic assault and battery, as well as one count of threatening to commit a crime.
Tian pleaded not guilty to all charges during a July 15 hearing in Brookline District Court and was released without bail under conditions restricting contact with the victim.
Tian heads a lab at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and HMS that studies neurons susceptible to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and glaucoma. The lab employs researchers from across Harvard’s graduate schools and Harvard College.
An HMS spokesperson referred The Crimson to BIDMC. A BIDMC spokesperson did not respond to repeated requests for comment, including questions about whether Tian remains employed or continues to oversee his lab following his arrest. Tian and his attorney also did not respond to requests for comment.
The victim told police that during an April 8 incident, Tian slapped her, pushed her onto a bed, and held her down with his forearm across her throat while she was nine months pregnant. She said Tian then approached her with a large kitchen knife, made her eat in a kitchen where gas was escaping from an extinguished burner, and shut windows she attempted to open, according to the report.
The victim also told police that Tian had hit her and threatened her with a knife during an incident in 2023. Tian’s lab was founded and his stint at HMS began in 2023, just months before the earliest report of abuse.
Days after the April incident, the victim left the home and sought care at a hospital, where she disclosed the alleged abuse to staff, according to the report. She was connected with social workers who specialize in domestic violence and later moved to a domestic violence shelter. She gave birth 13 days after leaving the home.
Get The Crimson in your inbox.
Before she disclosed the alleged abuse, Tian visited her at the hospital and brought her food, according to the report. The victim later told police that she had been made to sign a proxy form giving Tian the right to make medical decisions on her behalf during the delivery. She said she later removed Tian from the form and asked hospital staff to bar him from attending the birth.
Police served Tian with a temporary restraining order in June. After the victim attempted to report the alleged incidents to Salem police earlier this month, she was directed to Brookline police who interviewed her on July 14. Police then sought a warrant for Tian’s arrest.
The Brookline Police Department declined to comment or release a copy of the report, citing a Massachusetts law that makes reports involving domestic violence or sexual assault confidential.
Tian is next scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 16 for a pretrial hearing.
—Staff writer Shawn A. Boehmer can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at shawnb.18. Follow him on X @ShawnBoehmer.
—Staff writer Claire A. Michal can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at ClaireMichal.154.
