Stanford dean resigns after research failures – 7/19/2023 – World

The president of Stanford University, in the USA, Marc Tessier-Lavigne, announced on Wednesday (19) that he will resign from his post. The decision was communicated after the release of an independent report by the Special Committee of the Board of Trustees of the institution pointing out significant flaws in studies that it supervised.

The analysis evaluated 12 articles on which Tessier-Lavigne worked as an author or co-author. With 89 pages, the study was based on more than 50 interviews and reviewed 50,000 documents in all.

The committee found no evidence that Marc Tessier-Lavigne engaged in data fraud or falsification, but considered that he took insufficient steps to correct errors. His name was listed as the author of five “failed” works.

In February, the campus newspaper Stanford Daily ran a story alleging fraud involving a major article on Alzheimer’s from when the dean was working at the biotechnology company Genentech. The publication alleged that Tessier-Lavigne tried to “hide the discovery”.

The current report, in turn, pointed out that this text “fell below the usual standards of scientific rigor”. The panel questioned Tessier-Lavigne’s failure to try to correct the article after studies found the main thesis incorrect, according to the New York Times.

“I expect there to be an ongoing discussion about the report and its conclusions, which could lead to a debate about my ability to lead the university into the new academic year,” said the dean.

As a result of the review, the dean intends to withdraw from circulation a 1999 article that was published in the journal Cell, in addition to two others published in Science in 2001. He also indicated that two studies published in Nature would undergo a “comprehensive correction”.

Tessier-Lavigne, 63, will step down at the end of August but will remain at the university as a biology professor.

Stanford named Richard Saller, professor of European studies, interim dean, effective September 1. A neuroscientist, he has published over 200 articles, focusing primarily on the cause and treatment of brain diseases. In addition to Stanford, he has worked at universities such as Rockefeller, California and San Francisco.

Stanford is known for its leadership in scientific research, and the accusations reflected poorly on the institution’s integrity. The US is experiencing a moment of questioning university practices.

The traditional Harvard, for example, finds itself in the midst of controversy because of the so-called “legacy admissions”, which facilitate the entry of students whose parents or relatives have studied or donated money to the institution. The beneficiaries are mostly white Americans, since most of America’s elite universities only started admitting students from minority groups a generation ago.