Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne will resign at the end of next month following an eight month investigation into misconduct related to research papers, he said in a Wednesday statement.
Questions regarding Tessier-Lavigne’s research were first raised by the student publication, according to reporter Theo Baker. He joined Audacy’s “Something Offbeat” podcast earlier this year to discuss the case of a man who infiltrated the prestigious university’s dorms.
Per the university website, Tessier-Lavigne received undergraduate degrees from McGill University and from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, as well as a Ph.D. from University College London. He became Stanford’s 11th president in 2016, while maintaining research activities as Head of Laboratory and Bing Presidential Professor in the Department of Biology.
In addition to resigning, Tessier-Lavigne is expected to “retract or issue lengthy corrections to five widely cited papers for which he was principal author. A Stanford-sponsored investigation report said the papers had “serious flaws.”
According to The Daily Stanford’s report “retracting a paper is a rare act, especially for a scientist of Tessier-Lavigne’s stature,” citing a database of retractions.
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Work called into question in the investigation included a 2009 Alzheimer’s study that claimed to have found the cause of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s patients that was called “the most important discovery in Alzheimer’s in the last 20 years, maybe ever” by former Genentech executive Richard Scheller. That study had “multiple problems” per the report.
In his resignation statement, Tessier-Lavigne defended his work.
“I am gratified that the Panel concluded I did not engage in any fraud or falsification of scientific data. Specifically, the Panel did not find that I engaged in research misconduct regarding the twelve papers reviewed, nor did it find I had knowledge of or was reckless regarding research misconduct in my lab,” he said.
However, Tessier-Lavigne said he decided to step down “for the good of the University” and admitted that the report “identified some areas where [he] should have done better.”
“At various times when concerns with Dr. Tessier-Lavigne’s papers emerged – in 2001, the early 2010s, 2015-2016, and March 2021 – Dr. Tessier-Lavigne failed to decisively and forthrightly correct mistakes in the scientific record,” Stanford’s report said. The Stanford Daily reported that Jerry Yang, chair of the Stanford Board of Trustees, confirmed the president’s resignation is related to the report “and its impact on his ability to lead Stanford.”
Former Dean of Humanities Richard Saller will serve as interim president. He is the Kleinheinz Family Professor of European Studies at the university.
“I will remain on the Stanford faculty and look forward to continuing to conduct my scientific research on brain development and neurodegeneration under the auspices of one of the world’s preeminent educational institutions,” said Tessier-Lavigne in his Wednesday statement. He added that the report’s findings have promted him to “further reassess the processes and controls,” he has in place at his lab.
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