President Joe Biden’s senior science adviser, Eric Lander, has resigned amid allegations that he treated his staff unfairly. On Monday evening, White House press assistant Jen Psaki ascertained Lander’s departure from Office of Sc And Technology Policy. Reports sciencebusiness.net
“Dr. Eric Lander’s letter of resignation was accepted by the President this evening with thanks for his efforts at OSTP on the outbreak, the Cancer Moonshot, environmental issues, and other vital goals,” Psaki stated. He is confident, Dr. Lander will keep on making significant contributions to science in the coming year. “I am devastated that how I spoke with them has caused damage to previous and present colleagues,” Lander wrote in his termination letter to the president on February 7. “Things I said and the way I stated them crossed the line into being rude and degrading to both males and females at times. That was not my aim at all”, he went on to say more. “Regardless, it is entirely my fault and responsibility. I’m going to apply what I’ve learned so far.”
Lander is well aware of his deeds
Lander’s resignation comes in the wake of a damning Politico exposé about his behavior at the OSTP. The report outlined the findings of a two-month investigation prompted by allegations from Lander’s subordinates, and it included extensive allegations about how he mistreated OSTP employees. According to Politico, Landers apologized to his workers in an email sent to about 150 individuals on Friday, even before the report was released, stating he was “truly sorry” for his actions and regretting speaking to colleagues in a “disrespectful and condescending” manner.
Lander’s departure, on the other hand, is an awful turn of events for Biden’s agenda, partially because he’s the first Cabinet-level nominee to retire under a cloud, but mostly because he’d become a prominent role in advancing multiple Biden R&D priorities. This includes a resurrected “cancer moonshot” R&D initiative announced just a week ago by Biden, a major planned increase in US govt research funds, and moves to make it simpler for foreign engineers and scientists to reside in the US after completing their university studies.
Lander, meantime, was in the midst of a series of talks with other research powers, ranging from Japan to France, to reinvigorate scientific collaborations following four years of Trump’s skepticism. He had also succeeded in having a previous US initiative to examine US researchers for ties to China scaled back.
Of course, the majority of these activities are likely to persist, given they are the core of Biden’s mission of regaining public faith in science. At the very least, there will be bottlenecks because the White House fumbles to replace Lander.
