David Kessler was fired as dean of Univ of California SanFran Medical School. I have no love for Kessler's reign as FDA commissioner -- at least when Clinton was prez and the Dems controlled Congress. Kessler left the FDA to become dean of Yale medical school where most everyone agreed he did a great job. He took on the UCSF job because it is supposed be a world leader in translational medicine, that is, a powerhouse in doing the sort of work that drug companies are supposed to do and don't according to the Soros funded types.
But Kessler found that UCSF, instead of having about $70 million to build up the integrated translational programs he came to establish was deep in the financial toilet. His efforts to clean things up lead to a slimy charge that he was pocketing dough, a charge that was baseless.
Kessler is stepping down. But his inability to institute changes to make the medical school financially accountable raises troubling questions about the ability of the academic medical institutions to properly oversee clinical trials, drug development, practice guidelines, etc. Academic institutions are less transparent and less accountable than most entities. And now we see with UCSF and other universities financial irregularities if not outright corruption as a result of direct manipulation by politicians. I am thinking specifically of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ where the med school's political overseers have nearly ran that fine institution into the ground with self dealing and indifference.
We now see that Congress has no problem calling members of FDA advisory committees if they don't like a particular decision. Imagine how academics would buckle if their every study was under congressional scrutiny. This is how science should be conducted? This is new order the Reformers would impose on us? The Kessler departure raises serious questions about the ability of academic institutions to handle the serious responsibility of transforming scientific insights into preventive and proactive treatments. They cannot be trusted or asked to do so. And neither can the arrogant leaders of the Hate Pharma movement who have tried to seize the dollars and power to determine the course of medicine for themselves and cronies.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-12-14-california-dean_N.htm
But Kessler found that UCSF, instead of having about $70 million to build up the integrated translational programs he came to establish was deep in the financial toilet. His efforts to clean things up lead to a slimy charge that he was pocketing dough, a charge that was baseless.
Kessler is stepping down. But his inability to institute changes to make the medical school financially accountable raises troubling questions about the ability of the academic medical institutions to properly oversee clinical trials, drug development, practice guidelines, etc. Academic institutions are less transparent and less accountable than most entities. And now we see with UCSF and other universities financial irregularities if not outright corruption as a result of direct manipulation by politicians. I am thinking specifically of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ where the med school's political overseers have nearly ran that fine institution into the ground with self dealing and indifference.
We now see that Congress has no problem calling members of FDA advisory committees if they don't like a particular decision. Imagine how academics would buckle if their every study was under congressional scrutiny. This is how science should be conducted? This is new order the Reformers would impose on us? The Kessler departure raises serious questions about the ability of academic institutions to handle the serious responsibility of transforming scientific insights into preventive and proactive treatments. They cannot be trusted or asked to do so. And neither can the arrogant leaders of the Hate Pharma movement who have tried to seize the dollars and power to determine the course of medicine for themselves and cronies.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-12-14-california-dean_N.htm
