Stanford College President Declares Resignation Over Issues About His Analysis

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The president of Stanford College stated Wednesday he would resign, citing an unbiased overview that cleared him of analysis misconduct however discovered “critical flaws” in 5 scientific papers on topics akin to mind growth wherein he was the principal writer.

The resignation comes after the board of trustees launched a overview in December following allegations he engaged in fraud and different unethical conduct associated to analysis and papers which might be in some instances 20 years previous (1999, 2001, 2001)

Tessier-Lavigne, a neuroscientist, says he “by no means submitted a scientific paper with out firmly believing that the info had been appropriate and precisely offered.” However he says he ought to have been extra diligent in looking for corrections concerning his work and he ought to have operated laboratories with tighter controls.

Panelists discovered a number of situations of manipulated information within the 12 papers they investigated, however concluded he was not liable for the misconduct. Nonetheless, they discovered that every of the 5 papers wherein he was principal writer “has critical flaws within the presentation of analysis information” and in not less than 4 of them, there was obvious manipulation of information by others.

Tessier-Lavigne stated he was conscious of points with 4 of the 5 papers however acknowledged taking “inadequate” steps to cope with the problems. He stated he’ll retract three of the papers and proper two.

The papers had been revealed earlier than Tessier-Lavigne turned Stanford president.

Misconduct allegations concerning the work had been first aired on PubPeer, an internet site the place members of the scientific group can focus on analysis papers, the report acknowledged. Questions resurfaced after The Stanford Each day, the college’s student-run newspaper, revealed a number of tales concerning the integrity of experiences revealed by his laboratories.

The aggressive reporting merited investigations editor and then-college freshman Theo Baker a particular George Polk journalism award. Baker instructed The Related Press Wednesday that the retractions and corrections wouldn’t have occurred in any other case.

“The truth that we’re capable of contribute to the scientific report being corrected for 5 broadly cited papers is essential,” he stated.

The panel cleared Tessier-Lavigne of essentially the most critical allegations, {that a} 2009 paper revealed within the scientific journal Nature was the topic of a fraud investigation and that fraud was discovered. There was no investigation and no fraud found, the panel dominated. The paper proposed a mannequin of neurodegeneration, which might have nice potential for Alzheimer’s illness analysis and remedy, the panel wrote in its report.

However the panel additionally concluded the paper had a number of issues, together with an absence of rigor in its growth and that the analysis that went into the paper and its presentation contained “numerous errors and shortcomings.” The panel didn’t discover proof that Tessier-Lavigne was conscious of the dearth of rigor.

“Individuals have a tendency to consider scientists as these people that they’ve heard of like Einstein and Marie Curie,” stated H. Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of the Science household of journals. “The reality is that researchers run laboratories full of individuals, and every little thing that occurs in that laboratory is a product of many people there.”

Whereas the report cleared Tessier-Lavigne of analysis misconduct, Thorp stated in the end the boss is liable for what occurs within the lab – and shouldn’t be distracted by doing different jobs. He pointed to the report’s discovering that lab tradition performed a job.

Tessier-Lavigne says he’s stepping down as a result of he expects continued debate about his potential to steer the college. He’ll stay on college as a biology professor. He additionally stated he’ll proceed his analysis into mind growth and neurodegeneration.

The board named Richard Saller, a classics professor, as interim president beginning Sept. 1, stated board chair Jerry Yang.

In an announcement, Yang stated Tessier-Lavigne was key to creating the college’s first new faculty in 70 years, the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, and in 2019, he unveiled a strategic long-range plan that can proceed to information the college’s progress.

Tessier-Lavigne has been president for practically seven years.

Related Press reporter Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report from Washington.

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