Sylvia Trent-Adams, president of the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, is stepping down following a corpse research scandal, according to a Jan. 21 report from NBC News.
Ms. Trent-Adams is stepping down four months after an investigation found that the medical center failed to alert families before using their loved ones' corpses for medical research.
The university's statement announcing Ms. Trent-Adams' departure did not mention the investigation or a reason for her departure.
A September 2024 investigation determined that the science center chopped up, studied and leased out the bodies of the unclaimed dead, including individuals whose family members could not be easily reached, or whose relatives cannot pay for cremation or burial.
Over a five-year period, the center received about 2,350 unclaimed bodies from Dallas and Tarrant counties.
Many of these were used to train medical students, or were dissected and leased to outside groups, including major biotech companies and the U.S. Army, helping bring in about $2.5 million a year to the center, according to the report.
This was done without consent from the dead and, in many cases, without the knowledge of any of their survivors. Before the investigation was made public, the Health Science Center announced it was suspending its body donation program and fired the officials who ran it.
In an emailed statement addressing the scandal, Ms. Trent-Adams said she had "fallen short of the standards of respect, care and professionalism that we demand." She claimed leadership was unaware of what was happening internally.
While many bodies used by the Health Science Center were described as having no next of kin, several families were located by NBC News.
The Health Science Center had been receiving unclaimed bodies since at least 2019, three years before Ms. Trent-Adams was hired as president. Her last day will be Jan. 31.