Top White House scientist resigns, admits he ’caused hurt’

The top science adviser to the White House, Eric Lander, resigned on Monday, telling President Joe Biden in his letter of resignation that he had been “demeaning” to subordinates.

After the notorious revolving door for advisers during Donald Trump’s term in office, Lander was the first member of Biden’s Cabinet, as director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, to resign.

For Lander’s critics, his exit took far too long, and he shouldn’t have been nominated. For the White House, Biden has been “crystal clear” about his expectations and what will ultimately become of bullies in under his watch, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said ahead of the resignation Monday.

During his campaign, Biden vowed to make the White House a more fair and respectful place to work after Trump’s boisterous years. He said he would terminate bullies under his auspices “on the spot.”

Lander, who was founding director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard under the patronage of late Los Angeles billionaire Eli Broad, was tapped by Biden for scientific advice before his inauguration. But when Lander was nominated, it prompted warnings from science luminaries, and he was the last of Biden’s Cabinet members to be confirmed.

“The President accepted Dr. Eric Lander’s resignation letter this evening with gratitude for his work … ,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. “He knows that Dr. Lander will continue to make important contributions to the scientific community in the years ahead.”

The resignation came after Politico published a story Monday morning that alleged he had “bullied and demeaned his subordinates,” including his onetime general counsel Rachel Wallace, who resigned and filed a complaint before the White House launched a two-month investigation.

The publication said it confirmed that the investigation, described as recently concluded, found credible evidence of the scientist’s office bullying. It reported that multiple women had complained to colleagues about his behavior, which they generally described as demeaning.

As news of the forthcoming story spread Friday within the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Politico reported, Lander sent an email to staffers apologizing for his behavior.

Lander, a noted geneticist, molecular biologist, and mathematician as well as a principal researcher on the Human Genome Project, apologized again in his resignation letter.

“I am devastated that I caused hurt to past and present colleagues by the way in which I have spoken to them,” Lander wrote. ” … It is clear that things I said, and the way I said them, crossed the line at times into being disrespectful and demeaning, to both men and women.”

Following the morning’s news of Lander’s behavior, the American Association for the Advancement of Science disinvited him from its annual meeting next week.

“Toxic behavioral issues still make their way into the STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] community where they stifle…