Rusty Gage, the geneticist who upended science by proving that humans can generate new brain cells during adulthood, has been appointed interim president of the Salk Institute in La Jolla, which has been shaken by gender discrimination lawsuits filed by its faculty.
Gage, 67, is stepping in for Nobel laureate Elizabeth Blackburn, who recently made the unexpected announcement that she will retire as Salk’s president during late summer. Blackburn, who took the job two years ago, assumes the title of president emerita.
The Salk — whose research has helped in the development of such cancer drugs as Gleevec and Avastin — is creating a committee to find a permanent president. Board Chairman Daniel Lewis told the Union-Tribune Monday that he hoped to have candidates within three to six months.
Gage is a popular Salk researcher who briefly served as interim president in 2015 when William Brody went on medical leave.
His second stint comes during a more difficult time. Last summer, three female Salk professors — Katherine Jones, Beverly Emerson and Vicki Lundblad — separately sued the institute, alleging gender discrimination. All three characterized the Salk as an “old boy’s club” that systematically discriminated against women on pay, promotions, and access to money crucial to operating their laboratories.
The Salk has denied the allegations. The institute went so far as to publicly describe Jones and Lundblad as underachievers — a claim that was pointedly denied by some of the nation’s top researchers. A Salk official said the release was approved by Blackburn.
The lawsuits and Blackburn’s retirement have generated a lot of negative publicity for the Salk, which was founded in the 1960s by the late Jonas Salk, who developed the first effective vaccine against polio.
“What I see as my main objective is to help stabilize the institute and prepare it for the incoming of the next president,” Gage said Monday. “I think this next recruitment is really very important.”
Gage said he is not interested in becoming that next president.
“My hat is not in the ring for this,” he said.
Gage is continuing with his research. That differs from Blackburn, who closed her lab at UC San Francisco to become Salk president in January 2016. She succeeded William Brody, who took the job in March 2009.
Looking ahead, Gage said the institute will consider the characteristics needed of the next president, considering both the records of past presidents and how job requirements have changed over the years.
“We’ll look back on the last several presidents we’ve had, and look at the good features, the things that have worked, and the things that haven’t worked,” Gage said. “And times change as well. It’s not the same institute, it’s not the same time we had when we elected Bill (Brody), much less Elizabeth.”
Blackburn will remain in the picture, for a while, at least. The Salk said Blackburn is helping the institute with strategic planning, and that she would become a paid consultant for a year or more, starting this summer.
Twitter: @grobbins
