Statement from Dr. Richard Axel:
I have informed Columbia University that I will step down as co-director of the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute to focus on research and teaching in my lab. I also informed HHMI that I will resign my position as an HHMI Investigator.
My past association with Jeffrey Epstein was a serious error in judgment, which I deeply regret. I apologize for compromising the trust of my friends, students, and colleagues. I recognize the problems this has caused, and I will work to restore this trust. What has emerged about Epstein’s appalling conduct, the harm that he has caused to so many people, makes my association with him all the more painful and inexcusable.
The research I have pursued as an Investigator at HHMI and as a professor at Columbia, along with the privilege of mentoring generations of young scientists, will continue to be among the most meaningful commitments of my life. I am deeply grateful to HHMI for its unwavering belief that basic science, pursued with rigor and imagination, will profoundly benefit the world. I will continue to pursue my lab’s research at the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute at Columbia. I have been a professor at Columbia for 53 years and remain devoted to this exceptional institution.
