Jefferson University President Resigns After Liking ‘Controversial Tweets’

Thomas Jefferson University President Mark Tykocinski has resigned from his position after liking “controversial tweets” about the COVID-19 vaccine and gender reassignment surgeries for minors.

In an email to the university community Thursday, Jefferson’s CEO, Joseph G. Cacchione, said that Tykocinski had resigned roughly one year into his tenure. He had been the subject of a lengthy pressure campaign from left-wing activists and university elements after the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a story on his Twitter history.

“Two years after their introduction, the mRNAs Covid vaccines have proven to be what we all should have expected,” reads a December 11 tweet that Tykocinski liked. “Another in a long line of overhyped, rushed, profit-driven Big Pharma flops with weak long-term efficacy and a lousy side effect profile. …”

Tykocinski also liked a tweet from Donald Trump Jr. that was critical of gender reassignment surgeries for minors. “Doctors lied and coerced a 13-year-old into an irreversible ‘gender affirming medical procedure.’ Now she is fighting back and suing them. Donate here to support the lawsuit and help stop child mutilation.”

He later told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he merely meant to bookmark the tweets so he could “learn more about the subject matter or the particular viewpoint.” Cacchione expressed “disappointment” in the university president’s “careless use” of his Twitter page. “At his level, he is held to a higher standard and should have known better,” Cacchione wrote to the Jefferson community at the time.

In Thursday’s email, Cacchione said that Tykocinski is exiting the leadership role “to focus on his research and clinical translation efforts” but would remain a full professor. He also will no longer serve as interim dean of Jefferson’s Sidney Kimmel Medical College, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.