Update on the James Sherley affair
November 28, 2007
I’d been wondering what was going on with the infamous MIT denial-of-tenure case (blogging here, here, here), seeing as the June 30 kick-out deadline had long passed. A recent correspondence to Nature puts us on the track. James Sherley has apparently moved to Boston Biomedical Research Institute, an:
…independent, nonprofit scientific research institute dedicated to basic biomedical research to promote the understanding, prevention and treatment of a wide range of illnesses, including cancer, heart failure, stroke, diabetes and Alzheimer’s Disease.
which…
has over 100 biomedical researchers, including 27 faculty members, tackling complex questions about how the human body works at the cellular and molecular level.
Good for him.
DrugMonkey 
November 29, 2007 at 7:43 am
Thanks for the update; I have been meaning to follow up on that myself… I wonder if they actually had to drag him out by force, as he had threatened.
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November 29, 2007 at 8:47 am
Depends if he is as much of a drama queen as he seems. I mean, I sympathize and I’m sure there was some nasty stuff going on at MIT. And they might just have a little problem with racial bigotry. But versions of “unjust” denial of tenure go on all the freakin’ time.
In most cases that I know much about, once the anger at being insulted has abated, the lab has been restarted elsewhere where they actually want the person, etc, well, the scientists are happy to have moved.
Hopefully in the end Sherley came to see that what was most important was moving to a better place to do his research, which I hope the BBRI is for him. It is up to him to have the last laugh, so to speak, by continuing with excellent research output…
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August 26, 2010 at 12:20 pm
I think he is now having the last laugh at everyone who works with stem cells
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August 26, 2010 at 12:43 pm
I think he is now having the last laugh at everyone who works with stem cells
You may be right at that.
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