The executive director of Stanford’s Biomedical Informatics (BMI) Program, Henri “Jaap” Suermondt ’87 M.S. ’89 Ph.D. ’92, was arrested and charged with multiple felonies including aggravated sexual assault of a minor under 14 years old.

Suermondt was charged with 10 felony counts, according to the Santa Clara County Department of Correction. He was booked on July 19 and no bail is allowed, according to a county website. Suermondt could not immediately be reached for comment.

Upon learning on July 20 of his arrest, Stanford immediately placed Suermondt on unpaid leave and relieved him of all his duties, according to Stanford Medicine spokesperson Julie Greicius.

“These are extremely serious criminal charges, which we understand are still under investigation by law enforcement, so we are unable to comment further at this time,” Greicius wrote. 

Steven Bagley, who previously held the position from 2012 to 2019, has assumed Suermondt’s role in the interim, according to an email to BMI graduate students from Sylvia Plevritis M.S. ’86 Ph.D. ’92 M.S. ’96, chair of the department of biomedical data science. 

Suermondt worked with master’s and Ph.D. students in biomedical data science, according to his Stanford Profiles page. He also is the executive in residence at a startup incubator, and worked as a vice president at Hewlett Packard Labs until 2016. 

Suermondt’s plea hearing is scheduled for Sept. 1. 

Julia Ingram and Elena Shao contributed reporting.