Nobel winner resigns as head of Columbia institute over Epstein ties [View all]

Source: MS NOW News

Feb. 25, 2026, 9:15 AM EST Updated 8 Min Ago


Dr. Richard Axel, a Nobel Prize winner, has resigned as the co-director of Columbia University’s neuroscience institute over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, making him the latest in a growing list of people facing consequences after the Justice Department’s Epstein files release.

Axel, who shared a Nobel in medicine in 2004 for his work on the sense of smell, announced his resignation as the head of the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute on Tuesday. He called his relationship with Epstein “a serious error in judgment” that he deeply regrets.

“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,” Axel said in a statement through Columbia.

“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,” he said.

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