(IntegrityPress.org) – Marc Tessier-Lavigne, the president of Stanford University for the past 7 years, has confirmed that he will be resigning from his post because of his negligence to correct and resubmit falsified scientific studies. This marks a rare occurrence in which someone so far up the ladder in academia has had to quit due to significant media coverage and controversy.
An independent panel of scientists in late 2022 found that Tessier-Lavigne, who is an experienced neuroscientist and former pharmaceutical executive, failed to oversee and manage the scientific papers he was a part of. They further found that he showed no decisive action regarding correcting errors published within these papers.
Within the 12 scientific studies that the panel had reviewed, more than a quarter of them had obviously falsified research data, and the presentation of the data was faulty and did not make sense within the context of the research presented.
Academia has been at the forefront of much controversy lately, as similar incidents have erupted even at the Harvard Business School earlier in July. Professor Francesa Gino, who has since been placed on leave from Harvard, has had calls for three of her research papers to be retracted. A separate panel at Harvard found her data was manipulated, and that there was blatant, and easily proved dishonesty in the work.
Tassier-Lavigne indicated that amidst his resignation, he will be remaining on the faculty of Stanford while trying to improve and keep tighter reins on the research that his laboratory publishes.
Some of his falsified and manipulated studies included entirely new methods of research into the effects of neurodegeneration, and information on how said knowledge could be used to better understand and treat Alzheimer’s disease. Three of the twelve papers the panel reviewed will be retracted entirely, while four of them will receive heavy editing to properly reflect correct and factual scientific data.
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