In a manner of speaking yes, that combined with the power that comes from being a figure of authority over grad students and wielding the power of making or breaking academic careers over these students tends to lead to a crapload of abuse.
People think scientists are like gentlemen or einstein types; Nup, they're more like 4chan with autism dialled to 11. The closest thing i can describe that would be comparable would be the stereotype of the "techbros" of silicon valley; bullied as a kid in primary and high school, probably a virgin until postgrad who, once he gets his 300k type job, funding from venture capitalists, and with the power that comes with his position and the ego to boot, he becomes incredibly insufferable. At conventions, they have everyone kissing their ass because you have sales reps wanting to flog their 800,000+ dollar lab machines/equipment along with them nitpicking each others' research akin to a forum thread debate but which they'll call "health scientific debate" but you can see it's totally driven by ego.
Academia in the anglosphere, since i cannot speak for China, has become more about how to profit from the research and monetise it (reason why Stanford is so close to silicon valley and why Stanford medical school requires its students to have some sort of project conducive to VC funding) than actually trying to do research that benefits humanity.
