Stanford University president Marc Tessier-Lavigne announced Wednesday morning that he will step down as leader of the university, following a review of allegations of misconduct related to the authenticity of images published in scientific papers he co-authored.
While a months-long investigation by a committee of the University’s Board of Trustees concluded that he did not engage in any fraud or falsification of scientific data, it found that Tessier-Lavigne should have been more diligent when seeking corrections and identified instances of manipulation of research data by
“For the good of the University, I have made the decision to step down as President,” he said in a statement. He will resign on Aug. 31.
The Board has named Richard Saller as interim president of the University beginning September 1. Professor of European Studies, Saller was previously dean of the university’s School of Humanities and Sciences as well as a provost and dean at the University of Chicago.
According to Jerry Yang, chair of the Stanford Board of Trustees, Tessier-Lavigne is stepping down “in light of the report and its impact on his ability to lead Stanford.”
The allegations against Tessier-Lavigne, first described on the website PubPeer and reported by the Stanford Daily, don’t suggest that the findings were bogus or that patients were harmed. But science, funded by taxpayers, relies on integrity and builds on previous work. If papers contain erroneous images, deliberate or intentional, researchers may waste time or money trying to replicate the results.
He will remain on the Stanford faculty and continue his scientific research on brain development and neurodegeneration, he said. Tessier-Lavigne has focused his work on the cause and treatment of degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as on therapies for spinal cord injuries. He also studies how defects in neural development lead to illness, disability and death.
The contested research was conducted prior to his 2016 recruitment from New York City’s Rockefeller University to lead Stanford University. Most of the papers in question are focused on the study of the development of neural connections in the brain.
