He was seeking a $500,000 donation from Jeffrey Epstein to boost research into how sound \u2014 like lullabies or a mother\u2019s voice \u2014 could reduce pain, stress and heart rates among premature babies hospitalized in neonatal intensive care.<\/p>\n
Dr. Mark Tramo, an adjunct professor of neurology at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, ultimately received only a fraction of what he wanted from Epstein before the convicted sex offender died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.<\/p>\n
But after his name surfaced hundreds of times in emails contained in a trove of recently released Justice Department documents \u2014 among them a 2007 email in which the professor expressed support to Epstein amid prostitution charges \u2014 Tramo has faced backlash, including a petition with thousands of signatures calling for his firing. UCLA scrubbed his profile from a directory of faculty experts.<\/p>\n
When a link to his class\u2019s Zoom meeting was posted on Reddit this month, he canceled the session. \u201cFire Mark Tramo,\u201d said a sign during a small protest last week outside the geology building where Tramo\u2019s class is typically held.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish I never had anything to do with him,\u201d said Tramo, who researches the connection between neuroscience and music. \u201cI never visited his island, never flew on his planes, and never saw him with young girls… I have been subjected to harassment, false accusations and threats via email, telephone and fax.\u201d<\/p>\n
Broad academic fallout<\/p>\n
The Justice Department\u2019s release of millions of pages of Epstein files last month sent shock waves across the globe. It also jolted higher education institutions, putting a spotlight on how the quest for research funding by professors entangled them with Epstein during and after the period from 2006 to 2008 when he first faced a charge in Florida for a sex crime involving a minor and pleaded guilty.<\/p>\n
Emails between Epstein and dozens of scholars, Tramo among them, show how professors aggressively pursued donations in the hopes of getting a slice of the financier\u2019s estimated $600 million. They shared conference invites and articles on subjects Epstein took a liking to, such as mathematics, theoretical physics, psychology, evolutionary biology and brain science. They asked him to join calls, Zooms and meals and at times tolerated or ignored Epstein\u2019s sexual comments about female students. <\/p>\n
A Chapman University spokesman said it is \u201clooking into\u201d the emails of John \u201cJack\u201d Horner, a paleontologist whose exchanges in the federal documents show he visited Epstein\u2019s New Mexico ranch<\/a>. The University of Arizona canceled an annual \u201cscience of consciousness\u201d conference funded by Epstein cash. A Yale computer science professor will not teach classes while the university investigates<\/a> his conduct after he sent Epstein an email describing an undergraduate as a \u201cgood-looking blonde\u201d while recommending her for a job.<\/p>\n At UCLA, the fallout over Tramo\u2019s communication with Epstein has has not reached the level it has at those universities. Tramo has not been charged with a crime and remains employed by UCLA. He\u2019s listed on another university web page directory for \u201cIntegrative Biology and Physiology\u201d as an associate adjunct professor.<\/p>\n Until last week, the UCLA Newsroom maintained a page highlighting Tramo as an expert in \u201cmusic and medicine,\u201d according to the web archive WayBackMachine. It now turns up a broken link<\/a>.<\/p>\n A UCLA spokesperson declined to comment on Tramo, who has worked on campus since 2010 and previously was at Harvard. He also directs the independent Institute for Music and Brain Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n The emails disclosed show that Tramo corresponded with Epstein or his assistant from roughly 2006 to 2018. Tramo\u2019s correspondence largely is focused on neuroscience and music research. Epstein gave at least $125,000 to Tramo\u2019s institute. Dozens of messages also focus on medical advice Tramo said Epstein sought regarding a spinal injury.<\/p>\n Hundreds of Tramo\u2019s emails are ones in which Epstein or his assistant were blind copied. He frequently asked for phone calls with Epstein to \u201ckibbitz\u201d and would send him music-and-brain science \u201chomework.\u201d<\/p>\n Backlash centers on three exchanges<\/p>\n The UCLA protests focus on three of Tromo\u2019s email chains.<\/p>\n In one 2007 message<\/a> \u2014 part of a collection Bloomberg News obtained last September \u2014 Tramo offered support to Epstein as he faced charges of solicitation of prostitution, including one involving a 14-year-old.<\/p>\n \u201cI read the newspapers early this morning – coverage re: Palm Beach – so I\u2019m (sorta) glad it took me this long to get around to it (three grant applications worth!),\u201d Tramo, then at Harvard, wrote to Epstein\u2019s assistant. The email included an attached letter thanking Epstein for a $25,000 donation to the Institute for Music and Brain Science. <\/p>\n \u201cPlease remind him that boys from The Bronx (even if they end up at Harvard) have long memories, know all about cops, and stay true to their friends through thick and thin (no less peccadilloes).\u201d<\/p>\n In an interview, Tramo said he was unaware at the time that Epstein was accused of a sex crime involving a minor. <\/p>\n \u201cAll I knew was that this 50-something-year-old bachelor\/billionaire\/philanthropist pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution… Nothing about minors. Nothing about statutory rape,\u201d Tramo said.<\/p>\n Epstein, who pleaded guilty to the charges June 30, 2008, was sentenced to 18 months in a Palm Beach, Fla., prison. He served 13 months, mostly under a work release program that allowed him to leave for 12 hours a day on all but one day of the week.<\/p>\n