UC Irvine to Tighten Medical School Scrutiny

UC Irvine officials have announced a series of moves to strengthen oversight and tighten management at the scandal-plagued medical school, including unannounced audits and a review panel with outside members.

Chancellor Ralph Cicerone, in his first public comments since problems with the Willed Body Program came to light two weeks ago, wrote to College of Medicine faculty and staff that “there is much at stake in these efforts,” an apparent admission that after four scandals since 1995, the medical school cannot afford another misstep that could affect its reputation and ability to attract top-flight students and professors.

The latest scandal might have been headed off, Cicerone said in an interview, “if we’d had more of us looking over each other’s shoulders.”

In a separate letter, medical school Dean Dr. Thomas C. Cesario emphasized the importance of the new measures. “Our responsibilities to uphold the public trust are no less important than our responsibilities to care for patients and to discover new knowledge.”

The moves place more responsibility on department heads to ensure rules are followed, and their “management ability will be a key factor in the evaluation of their performance and in consideration of reappointment,” Cesario wrote.

The new measures mean department heads will have to walk a delicate line between regulation and academic freedom, said Tony Mazzaschi, assistant vice president at the Assn. of American Medical Colleges. “It isn’t like a factory where you have cars going down an assembly line,” he said.