Joe Biden selected the decorated, controversial (eu)geneticist, Human Genome Project co-leader Eric Lander as presidential science adviser.
Lander had previously been an adviser to president Barack Obama. In 2003, he founded and now leads the Broad Institute.
Lander has donated thousands of dollars to Biden and Massachusetts senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren (one of his sons worked for Warren's 2020 presidential campaign).
Another geneticist, Michael Eisen, wrote about Lander’s appointment:
I have mixed feelings. Lander is serially dishonest and chronically full of s**t. But he is really good at organizing big projects (probably the most important aspect of the job right now) and advocating for science.
You know, he’s a complicated figure. Let’s be clear, compared to where we’ve been for the past four years, it’s great.
But the way he talks about things is very much about building himself and his institution up, often at the expense of others and the truth.
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Lander was heavily criticized after he gave a birthday toast to James Watson in 2018. Watson was also a geneticist, who expressed sexist and racist views.
Maria Zuber (also from MIT), who will co-chair Biden’s scientific advisory council, has also feted Watson.
Lander’s relationship with James Watson goes back to the Human Genome Project, which included both Lander and Watson.
See from left: Eric Lander, Robert Waterston, James Watson, and Francis Collins, 12 February 2001.
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