UCI Radiology Chief to Quit, 4 Months After a Hiring Probe
Four months after he was investigated for a possible conflict of interest involving the hiring of a financial donor’s son, the chairman of UCI Medical Center’s radiology department said Tuesday that he would relinquish his post to spend more time on research and with patients.
Dr. Fong Tsai is the third top official at UCI’s health sciences program to announce he is stepping down since revelations of problems at the Orange hospital, most prominently a failed liver-transplant program.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. June 30, 2006 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday June 30, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 53 words Type of Material: Correction
UCI radiologist: In some editions of Wednesday’s California section, a secondary headline mistakenly said Dr. Fong Tsai was resigning from UCI Medical Center. He is resigning as chairman of the radiology department but will remain at the hospital. Also, an investigation cleared Tsai of a possible conflict of interest in February, not April.
Tsai was cleared of wrongdoing by UCI in April. Although one investigation said hiring the donor’s son was a conflict of interest, it concluded that Fong and the donor did not realize it was a conflict.
A second investigation found no conflict. The probes began after The Times reported in January that Tsai appointed Dr. Alfred Sein as a medical resident the same month that Sein’s father, Michael, pledged $250,000 to the radiology department in honor of Tsai.
Tsai said he had intended to hire Alfred Sein long before the donation was offered.
Tsai, 64, said he discussed resigning a year ago. He will remain on the faculty along with the two other departing medical administrators -- hospital chief executive Dr. Ralph Cygan, who stepped down in January, and medical school dean Dr. Thomas Cesario, who said he would give up his post in November.