Just over a year after being appointed president of Thomas Jefferson University, Mark Tykocinski announced he’d be stepping down.

In an email sent on Thursday, Jefferson CEO Joseph G. Cacchione wrote that Tykocinski is exiting from his president role “to focus on his research and clinical translation efforts.” Tykocinski will also be stepping down from his role as interim dean of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College. 

He will remain a full-time professor, however.

Susan Aldridge, a senior executive higher education consultant and member of the board of trustees, has been named interim president; while Steven Herrine, vice president of undergraduate medical education, will become interim dean.

While it has not been confirmed if his stepping down is correlated, the news comes just months after he made headlines for liking controversial tweets. 

In May, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Tykocinski had liked tweets questioning the COVID-19 vaccine and critiquing gender reassignment surgery.

His decision to like such tweets resulted in him coming under fire. 

Cacchione used words such as “disappointed” for Tykocinski’s “careless use” of his Twitter account.

“At this level, he is held to a higher standard and should have known better,” Cacchione said at the time. 

Amid the controversy, Tykocinski apologized and tried to clarify his intentions for liking the tweets.

He told The Inquirer he did it “to learn more about the subject matter or the particular viewpoint.”

“I regret my lack of understanding of how ‘liking’ a tweet is an implied endorsement,” he continued. “I also regret how my lack of understanding of the Twitter platform caused some to question my views on these complex issues.”

He also highlighted how his “lack of knowledge of the Twitter platform created questions and unintentionally offended many,” while ensuring that this would be a learning experience to help him grow both personally and professionally. 

Tykocinski has been with Jefferson since 2008, originally named the dean of the medical school that year. In 2014, he was appointed as the university’s first provost. Last July, he was appointed president.