When the University of Vermont's medical school opens for the year in the summer of 2019, it will be missing something that all but one of its peer institutions have: lectures.

The Larner College of Medicine is scheduled to become the first U.S. medical school to eliminate lectures from its curriculum two years from now, putting it at the leading edge of a trend that could change the way the next generation of physicians learn their profession. (The medical school at Case Western Reserve University also has a no-lecture curriculum, established when the school opened in 2004.)

As anyone who has fallen asleep during a three-hour lecture class can attest, taking notes from a sage on a stage isn't as effective as other ways to absorb information, and research confirms this. The main reason for the traditional method seems to be, well, tradition; medical professors and other teachers have been doing it this way for centuries.

Retention after a lecture is maybe 10 percent, said Charles G. Prober, senior associate dean for medical education at the Stanford University School of Medicine. If thats accurate, if its even in the ballpark of accurate, thats a problem.

[First year doctors will be allowed to work 24-hour shifts]

Instead, medical schools across the country are experimenting with various forms of active learning" dividing students into small groups and having them solve problems or answer questions. In addition to improving retention, the approach more closely mimics the way work is accomplished in the real world.

It creates a stickier learning environment where the information stays with you better and you have a better depth of understanding, said William Jeffries, senior associate dean for medical education at Vermont's Larner College of Medicine, who is leading the effort.

The trend at medical schools is just part of a reform movement in the teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) that emphasizes active learning instead of lecturing. Research supports the approach. When a team of researchers analyzed 225 studies that compared active learning and lectures in these fields, they found that test scores improved about 6 percent for students in active learning classes and that students in lecture classes were about 1.5 times more likely to fail than their counterparts in active learning classes.

[Heart doctors are listening for clues to the future of their stethoscopes]

Their 2014 analysis, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also found that active learning is effective in all class sizes, though best in smaller groups.

The Larner school has moved most quickly toward the new approach, funded by a $66 million gift from Robert Larner, who graduated from the medical school in 1942. The money will be used to build facilities more suitable for small group instruction and train faculty in the new approach, Jeffries said.

Under the Larner model, students do their homework the night before class, rather than after it. They study the material in texts and online before a class, then take a short quiz to gauge how well they've learned it. After that, they break up into groups of six and attempt to solve a medical problem, then discuss their conclusions, led by a professor who acts as both a facilitator and an instructor, Jeffries said.

You're expected to learn the information prior to attending [a class]," he said. You do your homework first. Then you come and work, usually in groups, to solve a problem based on that knowledge.

The role change is not easy and sometimes it shows. Collin York, who will graduate from the school in 2020, said he strongly favors active learning. But the main complaint I have is when active learning sessions arent run particularly well, the atmosphere becomes a little chaotic. Classes can get noisy, and students' attention shifts quickly from problem to problem. Instructors sometimes struggle to maintain control, he said.

If the class is run well, you genuinely do not have to revisit that material, he said.

York said he also feels a responsibility to learn material before each class so he won't let his classmates down when it's time for problem solving. The real meat of these sessions, if you ask me, is really in the reasoning through different answers, he said.

With so much material including recordings of lectures now online, medical students are making the transition easier, Prober said.

When you go into a lecture in medical schools across the nation, you will find a minority of students actually present, he said. Medical students are adults. One generally believes that adults try to make decisions that are in their best interests. They have seemingly made the decision that it is not in the lectures.

Continued here:

Medical school without the 'sage on a stage' - The Washington Post - Washington Post

Associated Press July 27, 2017 - 2:35 PM

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. Fifty students in Arizona took the first steps of a four-year journey to becoming medical doctors.

The Mayo Clinic School of Medicine, also called Mayo Med School, began instruction last week at its metro Phoenix campus in Scottsdale. Its inaugural class includes 10 students who from Arizona or with ties to the state.

Mayo Med School Interim Dean Dr. Michele Halyard told the school's inaugural class her stress-reliever as a student doctor came in the form of exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet.

Halyard said those habits will help the students cope with the grind and workload of medical school. Halyard described the students' coming weeks and months as "like drinking from a fire hose," and a "quantum leap up from undergrad," The Arizona Republic (http://bit.ly/2eQMwrw ) reported Wednesday.

The first years of medical school are dominated by science-related coursework that covers topics such as anatomy, biochemistry, cell biology, immunology, microbiology, pathology, pharmacology and therapeutics.

Students also complete a basic doctoring class that teaches them how to take a patient's history and conduct a physical exam. Students will simultaneously complete an Arizona State University and Mayo Clinic certificate program in the science of healthcare delivery.

A decade ago, there were no medical schools in Phoenix, the nation's fifth-largest city. Mayo Med School joins four other schools that have changed that.

The University of Arizona College of Medicine at the Phoenix Biomedical Campus in downtown Phoenix was the first to open in the area in 2007.

The University of Arizona College of Medicine now has independently accredited medical schools in Phoenix and Tucson. The Phoenix medical school graduates about 80 doctors each year.

Creighton University also opened a medical school site in Phoenix, training third- and fourth-year students at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center. Midwestern University in Glendale and A.T. Still University in Mesa run osteopathic medical schools.

The Mayo Clinic School of Medicine is an accredited medical school. It also has campuses in Minnesota and Florida.

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Students begin class at new metro Phoenix medical school - Minneapolis Star Tribune

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NC is home to the most affordable medical school in the country, study says News & Observer A recent report by Student Loan Hero named the East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine the most affordable of 110 U.S. medical schools. The schools were surveyed based on annual tuition costs, average debt at graduation and percentage of ...

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NC is home to the most affordable medical school in the country, study says - News & Observer

By Tess Vrbin Columbia Daily Tribune

The north side of the University of Missouri School of Medicines newest addition provides a direct view of Jesse Hall. UM System President Mun Choi said the iconic administrative building is a testament to our commitment to Missouri, the university and all future MU medical students that will use the new Patient-Centered Care Learning Center.

Choi was one of several speakers at the grand opening of the facility. Construction took two years and the facility is part of a $42.5 million expansion project a decade in the making. The project also includes a clinical campus in Springfield, the result of a partnership between MU and two Springfield health systems, CoxHealth and Mercy.

Both additions to the medical school have allowed it to incrementally raise its class size by one-third, from 96 to 128 since 2014. The Springfield campus will host 64 third- and fourth-year students, the additional 32 from each class, by 2020. The Association of American Medical Colleges has called for all medical schools to increase enrollment by 30 percent to address the nationwide shortage of physicians.

AAMCs most recent report about physician supply and demand predicts a shortfall of between 34,600 and 88,000 by 2025. This projection has dropped from a maximum of 90,400 since 2015 and 130,600 since 2010. Data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that in 2013, the U.S. ranked 31st out of 35 countries in terms of medical graduates and 24th out of 28 countries in terms of physicians per 1,000 people.

The shortage is most striking in rural areas because most physicians live in cities. American Medical Association president David Barbe said that as vice president of regional operations for Mercy in Springfield, he is responsible for recruiting physicians at Mercys many rural practices in southwest Missouri. He is embarrassed about the large amount of open positions within the network, particularly among primary care physicians, he said.

The MU School of Medicines Rural Track Pipeline Program recruits students from rural areas and trains them in rural communities throughout the state, said program co-founder Weldon Webb, who is also the associate dean for the Springfield clinical campus implementation.

The clinical campus started hosting students last summer, and it is located between CoxHealth and Mercy. CoxHealth president and CEO Steve Edwards said the partnerships between the two competing health systems once seemed unlikely. He compared them to the longstanding rivalry between MU and the University of Kansas.

Patrick Delafontaine, dean of the medical school, said many of the physicians at both systems work as faculty at the clinical campus. He also said the program creates a very strong potential for the development of more medical residencies in Springfield, which will increase the physicians chance of staying in the area.

According to previous Tribune reporting, MU sought student input during the medical school expansion process, and students wanted a social area, more light, more power outlets and other amenities. Second-year medical student Alex Katubig said she and her classmates no longer will have to attend lectures and do laboratory work in the basement of MUs Sinclair School of Nursing now that the Patient-Centered Care Learning Center has opened. She said the basement has no windows and much less lab space than the new facility. Student collaboration is important to the medical curriculum, Katubig said, and the more spacious and inviting building encourages that.

tvrbin@columbiatribune.com

573-815-1713

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University of Missouri medical school expansion continues with new building - Columbia Daily Tribune

USC President C.L. Max Nikias revealed late Friday that the university had received complaints and imposed disciplinary measures against the then-dean of its medical school, who a Times investigation found took drugs and associated with criminals and drug abusers.

In a letter to the campus community, Nikias wrote that Dr. Carmen Puliafito had been the subject of various complaints during nearly a decade as the dean of the Keck School of Medicine. Nikias said Puliafito received disciplinary action and professional development coaching.

Nikias also provided new details about Puliafitos final months in the job before he resigned in the middle of the Spring 2016 term.

In 2015, USC Provost Michael Quick put Puliafito on notice for being disengaged from his leadership duties, the president said.

On March 11, 2016, two USC employees notified Provost Quick that Dr. Puliafito seemed further removed from his duties and expressed concerns about his behavior, Nikias wrote.

The Provost consulted with me promptly and, as a result, confronted Dr. Puliafito. He chose to resign his position on March 24, 2016, and was placed on sabbatical leave.

The Times Editorial Board

The presidents letter was released hours after The Times provided USC with findings about Puliafitos behavior during his tenure heading the medical school.

It comes amid an outpouring of anger and questions about USCs handling of Puliafito, a Harvard-trained ophthalmologist.

Full Coverage: An overdose, a young companion, drug-fueled parties: The secret life of a USC med school dean

The Times report last week described how Puliafito kept company with a circle of criminals and drug addicts and used methamphetamine and other drugs while serving as the dean. Photos and videos reviewed by The Times showed Puliafito, 66, and his friends, who were in their 20s and 30s, partying in 2015 and 2016.

The images include some in which Puliafitos companions are seen holding drug paraphernalia during an after-hours visit to the deans office at USCs Health Sciences Campus in Boyle Heights.

One member of Puliafitos circle was a 21-year-old woman who overdosed in his presence at a Pasadena hotel three weeks before he abruptly quit as dean.

Alex J. Berliner / Associated Press

Dr. Carmen Puliafito

Dr. Carmen Puliafito (Alex J. Berliner / Associated Press)

Last week, Puliafitos successor as dean, Dr. Rohit Varma, told a gathering of scores of students that USC had found no evidence, particularly, of that phone call.

But Tuesday evening, a crisis management specialist representing USC, Charles Sipkins, said that Nikias office did receive an anonymous call about Puliafitos presence at the hotel overdose. However, the anonymous report did not reach senior administrators, Sipkins said.

About three months after Puliafito stepped down, Nikias and other USC leaders hosted a catered reception for the former dean and praised his leadership of the medical school. Puliafito continued to accept new patients at campus clinics and represented the university at events, including a Keck-sponsored course at a Pasadena hotel earlier this month.

The Times made repeated inquiries over the last 15 months about Puliafito, in some cases describing information reporters had gathered about the dean and the overdose.

USCs leaders never responded to the inquiries. Numerous phone calls were not returned, emails went unanswered and a letter seeking an interview with Nikias to discuss Puliafito was returned to The Times by courier, unopened. The courier also delivered a letter of complaint from Brenda Maceo, USCs vice president for public relations and marketing, who said the reporter had crossed the line by visiting the Nikias home to deliver the letter.

On Friday, Nikias wrote that in the fall of 2016 a communications staff member received an unsubstantiated tip about a Pasadena hotel incident.

He described a confrontation by administrators: When we approached Dr. Puliafito about the incident, he stated a friends daughter had overdosed at a Pasadena hotel and he had accompanied her to the hospital.

The president also said that last March, The Times did provide the university with detailed questions about, and a copy of a 911 recording from the Pasadena hotel incident. The recording was immediately referred to a committee that assesses clinical competency, the Hospital Medical Staff, Nikias said.

That body determined that there were no existing patient care complaints and no known clinical issues, the president said.

After The Times investigation was published on July 17, Nikias said the Hospital Medical Staff had reopened its investigation. The Medical Board of California also launched an investigation into Puliafito based on the newspapers report, a spokeswoman confirmed.

Nikias said in his letter that after The Times published its story, the university learned that two receptionists in the presidents office received a call in March 2016 from a blocked number.

The caller, who insisted on anonymity, raised concerns about an incident in a Pasadena hotel involving Dr. Puliafito. Neither receptionist found the claims or the caller credible, and so the information was not elevated and did not reach a senior administrator, Nikias wrote.

Needless to say, we have already put into place a new system that documents and records all incoming calls to the presidents office.

USC announced last week that it hired a former federal prosecutor who works for a law firm with close ties to the university to investigate the affair. Puliafito has been barred from the campus and from any association with USC.

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USC admits receiving complaints, disciplining former medical school dean linked to drug use - Los Angeles Times

The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine welcomed its eighth class this week.

Every year, I am impressed by the quality of our incoming class and this year is no exception, said Dean Cynda Johnson, in a news release. Each student is competitive for medical school on paper based on their academic achievements, but they also have diverse backgrounds, which is something we strive for to enrich their learning experience.

-- Women outnumber men for the first time. Of the 42 students, 22 are women.

-- One-third come from Virginia. Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia tied with both sending five of their graduates to the med school.

-- Other schools with more than one student: Georgetown University, Haverford College, University of California San Diego and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

-- Most popular undergraduate majors: biology, neuroscience and biochemistry.

-- 20 percent have graduate degrees.

-- 4,403 people applied for the 42 slots.

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Med Beat: Med school welcomes new class - Roanoke Times (blog)

See the newest renderings of USF's downtown Tampa med school and learn how to get a piece of SPP's $3B ... Tampa Bay Business Journal While the medical school will break ground in August, the remainder of the first phase of Water Street is slated to break ground in the spring. The scale of the project, local real estate experts say, will strain Tampa Bay's already tight construction ...

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See the newest renderings of USF's downtown Tampa med school and learn how to get a piece of SPP's $3B ... - Tampa Bay Business Journal

By Susan Svrluga and Sarah Larimer | Washington Post

The University of Southern California, widely regarded as academically ascendant, faces a deepening crisis over a Los Angeles Times report that the renowned former dean of its medical school was apparently using illegal drugs even in his own office on campus.

Stunned parents, students and higher education experts are asking a simple question: If the allegations are true, why didnt the university do something sooner?

This is really going to damage the school, said Arthur Caplan, head of the division of medical ethics at New York University School of Medicine, not so much because of the alleged behavior but because of the universitys apparent response. It didnt look like people were moving quickly to handle these reports. Even when they had them in the newspaper, they didnt handle them quickly. That makes people wonder about leadership.

The universitys president, C.L. Max Nikias, acknowledged Wednesday that officials could have done better in handling the situation with former medical dean Carmen A. Puliafito.

In a statement to the USC community, Nikias said that although officials acted in good faith, it is clear to us now that the university currently has only loosely defined procedures and guidelines for dealing with employee behavior outside the workplace that may be improper or illegal and has the capacity to affect USC. And, presently, the university has very limited capacity to conduct investigations and follow up on leads or anonymous reports of such employee behavior.

He said a task force would immediately begin addressing questions such as how to improve employee wellness, improve assessment and ensure that concerns are raised to higher officials.

The statement came as the 44,000-student school in Los Angeles has been rocked by revelations about Puliafito.

A USC professor acknowledged that people inside and outside the university are upset about the story, but he praised university leaders integrity. Jacob Soll, a professor of history and accounting who works with governments on ethics issues, said people need to keep in mind that personnel decisions are fraught and legally complex. He said Nikias, a friend, is totally aware of the fragility of the operation . . . one scandal like this could ruin everything.

Soll, a MacArthur Fellow, said he has seen Nikias choose academic integrity rather than following the money numerous times. The guys squeaky clean. He has wanted to avoid the kind of scandal where the university makes the wrong decision. Hes totally conscious of this.

Last week the Times reported that the former dean of the Keck School of Medicine, Harvard-educated eye surgeon Carmen A. Puliafito, had a secret life: Although he had raised millions of dollars in donations and grant money, and enticed academic stars to the school, he resigned as dean in March 2016 three weeks after a 21-year-old woman who told the Times she had been working as a prostitute allegedly overdosed in his hotel room. Police found methamphetamine in the room and talked with Puliafito but made no arrests. Puliafito later picked her up from the hospital, according to the Times, took her back to the hotel and continued the party.

The Times story on July 17 described numerous videos and photos from 2015 and 2016 showing Puliafito using drugs with much younger friends at several locations including in the deans office at USC:

In one video, a tuxedo-clad Puliafito displays an orange pill on his tongue and says into the camera, Thought Id take an ecstasy before the ball. Then he swallows the pill.

In another, Puliafito uses a butane torch to heat a large glass pipe outfitted for methamphetamine use. He inhales and then unleashes a thick plume of white smoke. Seated next to him on a sofa, a young woman smokes heroin from a piece of heated foil.

Puliafito did not respond to messages seeking comment.

He was not arrested or charged in connection with the overdose incident, and Pasadena Police Chief Phillip Sanchez said this week that there was and is no evidence that he committed a crime that night. Sanchez noted that people do not usually arrest victims who are hospitalized for overdosing, or arrest people who report an overdose or who are at the hospital with an overdose victim. The 1.16 grams of methamphetamine found inside an unoccupied hotel room were not in anyones physical possession, he noted in a news release.

The story continues to reverberate nationally, in part because it seems a particularly shocking example of the unprecedented reach of the epidemic of illegal drug use in the country, and in part because most people have so much respect and trust for doctors especially those whose roles include furthering advanced research, educating the next generation of physicians and caring for people who need help.

USC has raised its reputation in recent years as a private research university with global aspirations. It initially responded with a brief statement that its leaders could not discuss personnel matters. The statement said that Puliafito was on leave from his roles at USC, was not seeing patients and that, if the allegations were true, the university hoped he would get the treatment he needs for a full recovery.

I have every confidence we acted in good faith and in accordance with our core values, Nikias wrote in his letter Wednesday. But he said that although the university has clearly defined procedures for many sorts of concerns, it is clear to us now that the university currently has only loosely defined procedures and guidelines for dealing with employee behavior outside the workplace that may be improper or illegal and has the capacity to affect USC, and very limited capacity to conduct investigations or follow up on leads or anonymous tips about such behavior.

Nikias detailed the directive he had given to senior leaders to question things such as the flow of information across different parts of the university, additional training for staff on mental-health challenges, opportunities for improving wellness, ensuring reports of improper actions even if anonymous get passed on to higher officials, and improving assessment.

He also addressed some of the many complexities facing the university, including the balance between privacy rights and the need to ensure safety, as well as possible criminal behavior and the need for compassion for employees who need treatment.

On Friday, Nikias issued another public statement, telling the campus community that we are outraged and disgusted by this individuals behavior. He said that the school had hired a partner in a law firm, a former federal prosecutor, for an inquiry into Puliafitos conduct, the universitys response, and its policies and procedures.

The universitys provost, Michael Quick, also wrote a letter to the faculty Friday saying that he was aware many people wanted us to act on allegations and hearsay, but we needed actual facts. He said they had that day for the first time seen information firsthand of egregious behavior. It is extremely troubling and we need to take serious action.

Officials had begun the process of firing Puliafito and stripping him of his faculty tenure, Quick wrote. Puliafito is suspended, banned from campus and all university events.

But many asked why the university had not acted sooner.

You can be fired for cause if you engage in behavior that is morally abhorrent, said Raymond Cotton, a lawyer specializing in leadership and governance in higher education.

Boards need to keep their radar up thats part of their fiduciary duty. The president of the university has to keep his radar up, too. Hes the last person who should be in denial about serious allegations, Cotton said. This person is dean of a medical school setting moral standards for his students. If allegations are made, they need to be looked into. They may turn out to be false, but at least look into them.

The Medical Board of California is looking into the allegations based upon the information provided in the Times article, according to Cassandra Hockenson, a spokeswoman for the board, but she said the board does not discuss ongoing investigations or complaints.

Paul Rosenbloom, president of USCs Academic Senate, said in an email: I am appalled by what has been alleged concerning the behavior of the former medical school dean, and concerned about anyone who may have been hurt by his actions. Furthermore, all faculty have a stake in knowing that this particular situation has been, and will be, handled appropriately by the university; and that we are confident that the appropriate policies and procedures are in place for the future. He said he was looking forward to the results of the investigations.

The entire academic community has been shaken up by this, said John Prescott, an emergency medicine doctor and former dean who is chief academic officer for the Association of American Medical Colleges. He said that in working with hundreds of medical school deans over years he had never seen anything remotely like the behavior the Times described. There are 100,000-plus faculty members currently in the United States. For any individual faculty member, this would be an outlier, he said.

When its a dean because of the position, the trust the university and the school places on that individual and the scrutiny and vetting they face before they are hired, he said, the situation is far more serious.

Its as important an issue as any that a school or university could face; its a senior leader of an academic institution. Deans are juggling the demands of shifting national health-care policy, fundraising, threats to research funding, he said. And lives are literally at stake.

Soll pointed out that the situation was complicated because police had not arrested Puliafito or charged him with anything. With a huge research university, he said, countless calls and complaints come in.

An audio recording suggests that the police officer who spoke with Puliafito about the overdose seemed unconvinced of the deans version of events, the Times reported. That recording captures a social worker asking the officer whether he agrees with Puliafitos story, according to the newspaper. No, the officer responds.

The officer can be heard on the audio asking Puliafito how he knows the woman. Puliafito responds that he is a friend of her father. The officer also asks if the two were involved in a romantic relationship, which Puliafito denies.

USC Board of Trustees Chairman John Mork said in a statement that he had utmost confidence and trust in Nikias and Quicks ability to lead USC through this challenging time.

Frederick Ryan, publisher and chief executive of The Washington Post, also is a member of the USC board.

Charles Sipkins, speaking for USC, confirmed that, as the Times initially reported, an anonymous call was placed to the presidents office in March 2016. That information was never relayed to senior administrators, he said.

Puliafito resigned as dean that month.

He was honored by the university in June 2016 for his contributions.

This January, the Times reported, a reporter went to Nikias home and left a letter asking the president to talk about the circumstances surrounding Puliafitos resignation a letter that was returned the next day, unopened, via courier. In March of this year, the Times reported, the newspaper asked to interview Nikias, with a list of questions and information the reporters had learned, including that methamphetamine had been found in the hotel room where the woman overdosed the year before, and that the room was registered to Puliafito. The newspaper attached the recording of the 911 call made to report the apparent overdose which included audio of Puliafito identifying himself as a doctor and saying the woman was sleeping after having several drinks.

Nikias did not respond to that March 2 email, according to the Times, and reporters who went to his office were turned away.

Robert Tranquada, a former dean of Keck, said he had not heard concerns about illegal drug use or anything remotely like that from faculty members. I felt, and I think others did, that he was very self-absorbed and yet he was extremely successful in a variety of things, including, obviously, fundraising, and recruiting absolutely first-rate faculty, getting new programs, and other things. Thats where I think most of the faculty attention went.

After the investigation, he said, I think that will all be dealt with appropriately, but not until the facts are really known. And, I suspect, not in the public.

This is a disaster right now, Soll said. It needs to be cleared up and people have to understand what the universitys constraints are.

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Widening scandal for USC medical school - The Mercury News

Doctors should reconsider telling patients to complete a prescribed course of antibiotics because there is not enough evidence to suggest that stopping pills early encourages antibiotic resistance, according to analysis in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Traditionally, patients have been told they must finish a prescribed course of antibiotics.

The current guidance from the World Health Organization and Britain's National Health Service says stopping antibiotic treatment early, even if you feel better, allows the bacteria causing the problem to become resistant to the drug.

However, research published Wednesday by Professor Martin Llewelyn, from the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, and a team of experts argued it could be time to rethink this widespread advice.

"The idea that stopping antibiotic treatment early encourages antibiotic resistance is not supported by evidence, while taking antibiotics for longer than necessary increases the risk of resistance," the research said.

"We encourage policy makers, educators, and doctors to stop advocating 'complete the course' when communicating with the public," Llewelyn and the team of experts added.

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Medical advice telling patients to complete antibiotics course is wrong, study says - CNBC

The police officer who last year questioned the then-dean of USCs medical school about his role in the drug overdose of a young woman expressed skepticism at Dr. Carmen Puliafitos account, according to an audio recording that was made by the officer and released Tuesday.

Puliafito told the officer he was at the Pasadena hotel room where the overdose occurred as a family friend to help the woman, who was later rushed to Huntington Memorial Hospital.

The unidentified officer is asked by a social worker at the hospital what he thought of the account offered by Puliafito.

You buy it? says the social worker on the recording that Pasadena police released in response to a California Public Records Act request by The Times.

No, the officer replies.

The social worker later laughs and says: A friend of the father. Excuse me? Thats funny.

The officer and social worker then speculated about Puliafitos relationship with the woman and discussed the drugs and provocative clothing found at the scene.

Despite the officers doubts, a required report on the overdose at a Pasadena hotel was not filed until three months later, after The Times made repeated requests for information. No arrests were made.

In a statement Tuesday, Pasadena Police Chief Phillip L. Sanchez defended his departments handling of the overdose, saying it lacked evidence to arrest Puliafito in connection with methamphetamine that officers found in the hotel room registered in his name. It remained unclear if the department followed up on its investigation after questioning Puliafito at the hospital.

The woman who overdosed, Sarah Warren, now 22, told The Times the police never interviewed her. About six hours after she overdosed, Warren said, Puliafito picked her up at the hospital and they returned to the hotel to resume using drugs.

Puliafito, 66, resigned as dean of the Keck School of Medicine three weeks after the overdose, saying he wanted to pursue opportunities in the biotech industry. His involvement in the incident was not publicly reported until The Times published an investigation last week that found Puliafito associated with a circle of younger criminals who said he abused drugs with them.

After he stepped down as dean, Puliafito remained on the USC faculty and continued to accept new patients, according to the schools website.

The Pasadena polices handling of Warrens overdose and Puliafitos involvement have been the subject of intense scrutiny and criticism.

Last week, Pasadena City Manager Steve Mermell sent a memo to council members saying that The Times account of the hotel incident reflects poorly on the city and the Pasadena Police Department.

As indicated in the article, initially there was no police report made of the incident, Mermell said. There should have been and that was a failure on the part of our responding officer. Once this came to light, [police] undertook an appropriate investigation and ultimately the involved officer was the subject of disciplinary action.

Its unclear whether the officer in the recording was disciplined.

On Friday, USC administrators announced that Puliafito had been suspended from the faculty and barred from seeing patients, and that the school had begun the process to fire him.

The Medical Board of California has said it is investigating Puliafito, based on The Times report.

An overdose, a young companion, drug-fueled parties: The secret life of USC med school dean

The overdose occurred March 4, 2016, at the Hotel Constance on Colorado Boulevard. A hotel employee called 911 to report an apparent overdose. On the recording, Puliafito is heard identifying himself as a doctor and saying the woman was his girlfriend. He told the 911 dispatcher that the woman had a bunch of drinks and shes sleeping.

Paramedics arrived at the hotel and took Warren to the hospital. The police officer met Puliafito at the hospital, where he interviewed the doctor.

On the police officers recording, Puliafito can be heard telling the officer that hes a friend of Warrens father.

When asked if he has a romantic relationship with Warren, Puliafito responds no.

Puliafito said he thought she was sleeping, and she was breathing and you know, and hadnt thrown up or anything.

You as a doctor, did you notice anything that would have alarmed you? the officer asked.

Puliafito responded that he was an ophthalmologist and eye surgeon.

So not an emergency medicine physician. I mean, I basically looked at her respirations, you know, he said. When I saw her at the beginning, she was responding to me. Later, he said, Warren didnt seem to be waking up.

A witness to the incident told The Times of phoning USC President C.L. Max Nikias office, giving two employees an anonymous account of the overdose and demanding that USC take action against Puliafito.

Phone records reviewed by The Times showed the witness made a six-minute call to Nikias office on March 14, 2016, 10 days after the overdose.

Last week, Puliafitos successor as dean, Dr. Rohit Varma, told a gathering of scores of students that USC had found no evidence, particularly, of that phone call.

But on Tuesday, a crisis management specialist representing USC, Charles Sipkins, said that Nikias office did receive an anonymous call about Puliafitos presence at the hotel overdose. However, the anonymous report did not make it to top university officials, Sipkins said.

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Pasadena officer who investigated overdose was skeptical of USC ... - Los Angeles Times

Alex J. Berliner/Associated Press/file

Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito spoke at an event in 2015.

Dr. Carmen Puliafito was once among Bostons most prominent physicians, building a clinic from scratch before leaving more than a decade ago for prestigious roles in Miami and then in Los Angeles.

Now the Harvard-educated eye surgeon, who became dean of the University of Southern Californias medical school, is in the spotlight after a sensational report in the Los Angeles Times revealed that Puliafito essentially led a double life.

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Puliafito was a renowned academic by day, an ophthalmologist who helped raise more than $1 billion for USC. By night, according to the report, he did hard drugs and partied with prostitutes and other drug users sometimes in his university office.

The Times interviewed people who partied with Puliafito and reviewed photos and videos of him taking ecstasy and methamphetamine in 2015 and 2016.

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Following the newspapers report last week, USC officials said they were investigating the matter and were working to fire Puliafito and strip him of his faculty tenure as quickly as possible for his egregious behavior.

The sudden change in fortune for the 66-year-old hotshot doctor stunned many in Boston, where Puliafito got his start and spent the first two decades of his career.

Its difficult to know whether Puliafito had substance-abuse issues when he worked in Boston in the 1980s and 1990s. He has no criminal record, according to the Times report.

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A longtime friend who spoke to the Globe said he had never seen Puliafito take hard drugs. A spokeswoman for Tufts Medical Center, where he worked for 10 years until 2001, said there is no indication of any issues during his time at Tufts.

In Boston, Puliafito was known as driven and intense, a physician who relished the business of running a clinic as well as his time in the operating room and who occasionally performed laser eye surgery on cats and dogs.

Paul Parravano said its hard to square the allegations with the man he has called a friend since they were roommates while Harvard undergraduates.

Its difficult for me to comprehend that with the Carmen, the eye surgeon and friend for life, that I know, he said.

Parravano is blind, and according to Puliafitos own telling, inspired him to go into the field of eye medicine. Although they live on different coasts Parravano works in government and community relations for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology they regularly keep in touch. Parravano was best man at Puliafitos wedding and flew to California for his 60th birthday party.

They call each other from time to time to chat about baseball, politics, and their Harvard undergrad days.

Hes always been loyal, Parravano said. He calls, or Ill call him. We have great memories of things we did in college. We went hitchhiking together when we were in college. We did a lot of adventurous things. He was always up for adventure.

Puliafito went on to Harvard Medical School and got his training at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, a specialty hospital. He stayed there as a staff ophthalmologist until 1991.

That year he decamped for Tufts Medical Center, where he launched the New England Eye Center competing for business with his former employer, Mass. Eye and Ear. He stayed at Tufts and taught at the affiliated Tufts University School of Medicine until 2001.

Dr. Puliafito has been an innovator in the field of ophthalmology, and his work has led to many important discoveries, Tufts Medical Center spokeswoman Rhonda Mann said in a statement. He started the New England Eye Center in 1991 to serve the local community with the latest advancements in vision medicine and today, 15 years after he left, the Center is thriving, with more than 100,000 patient visits per year.

Puliafito left Boston to run an eye institute at the University of Miami before becoming dean of USCs Keck School of Medicine in 2007. He stepped down as dean last year but remained on the faculty.

On Friday, four days after the Times investigation was published, USC provost Michael W. Quick told the faculty: Today, we were provided access to information of egregious behavior on the part of the former dean concerning substance abuse activities with people who arent affiliated with USC. This was the first time we saw such information first-hand.

In his memo, Quick noted that substance abuse is a tragic and devastating disease, but he said the university is obligated to take action against Puliafito.

USC has hired a law firm to investigate the matter. Asked when the university became aware of Puliafitos conduct, spokesman Eddie North-Hager said the university was waiting for the inquiry to run its course.

Our priority now is to obtain a clear picture of exactly what happened and to ensure the well-being and trust of our students at USC, the patients at the Keck School and our entire university community, he said in an e-mailed statement.

When the Globe attempted to contact Puliafito, a woman who picked up the phone at a number listed for him said he was not speaking with reporters.

Mass. Eye and Ear declined to comment about Puliafitos tenure there, and a Tufts University spokesman said no one was available to comment. Two high-ranking physicians who worked with Puliafito at Tufts declined to comment.

A 1993 Boston Globe profile of Puliafito called him a world-renowned researcher of lasers in medicine who was simultaneously brilliant, boyish, moody, cheerful, engaging, brutally frank, entertaining, demanding, volatile and hard-nosed.

Puliafito is not grouchy; he is merely semi-volcanic, the Globe story said. Actually ... he is more like one of those Yellowstone Park mud pots: placid on the surface for a few minutes, then erupting for a moment, then calm again.

Read more:

Allegations that medical school dean led drug-fueled secret life ... - The Boston Globe

Posted on July 26, 2017

Meet the newest graduates of Mini Medical School.

Its the summer program for high school and early college students interested in healthcare, to learn about the field of medicine and get some hands-on experience.

Dr. Ira Rubin started the program to help kids figure out if this is the field for them.

The fun of it is seeing when the kids are excited and they like it and they actually make it spark, a spark is what I call it, said Dr. Rubin, a pediatrician at Edward Hospital. The kid lights up and you see that they really enjoy and want to do something. And you spark that interest and you spark that motivation. So some parents say youve turned my child into something different and in that short period of time they were not knowing what to do and now its like theyre very focused and theyre driven.

The daylong program includes lectures from Dr. Rubin about medicine and special practices. Then the students go through 16 different medical experiences for ten minutes each.

I really like learning. They were showing us how to do IVs, and we dont learn that in CNA school so I thought that that was super cool, said Jennifer Braun, a nursing student at College of DuPage who participated in Mini Medical School. We learned how to deliver a baby and that was super different because you never know when you could use that. So just little things like that that were super cool.

The pilot of Mini Medical School began in 2005 with just 24 students from Naperville Central. Today the program takes over the lower level of Edwards ER location in Plainfield and has evolved into a 20-hour winter program for 64 hand selected students, and two eight-hour summer sessions for 70 students.

Top graduates of the winter program are selected by Dr. Rubin to be teaching assistants for the summer sessions, like Amey Maley.

I definitely have been leaning toward a career in healthcare after going through this, because Dr. Rubin has been very realistic about what it takes to have a career in healthcare and also what it entails so its made me more interested. So I definitely see myself doing it in the future, said Maley, a junior at Naperville North High School.

And some graduates have done just that taking their training and moving on to the real deal.

Now looking back as a fourth year medical student, I realize that all the skills we learn in the skills lab that Dr. Rubin has been holding, these are all skills that weve been learning on our hospital rotations. So having gone through all these skills once before with Dr. Rubin, I think it was a really valuable experience and gave me a bit of a leg up in that sense. But at the same time I also knew what was coming and I was really excited and I think thats enhanced my medical experience as well, said Aneesh Tyle, a graduate of Mini Medical School.

Students also get a certificate of completion proof of the closer look theyve had into the world of medicine.

Applications for Dr. Rubins Mini Medical Schools winter program will be available on minimedicalschool.com in August.

Naperville news 17s Christine Lena reports.

Originally posted here:

Mini Medical School - Naperville Community Television

Express-News Editorial Board

Photo: Kin Man Hui /San Antonio Express-News

UIWs med school a gem for the community

San Antonios newest medical school couldnt arrive soon enough.

The University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine has launched the school with an inaugural class of 150 medical students.

Many of these students will go on to serve the San Antonio region, meaning these future doctors will raise their families here and treat the families of others.

Thats an immeasurable return on investment.

This is San Antonios second medical school, and the Brooks location turned out to be ideal. The original aim was to place UIWs medical school downtown. But plans fell through, and Brooks emerged as the right site.

The 16-acre campus underwent $50 million in renovations, fueled by private donations.

Its presence on the Southeast Side where there are fewer doctors, and health challenges and disparities are high is a potential game changer for the region. It brings geographic balance to health policy, research and service.

Lou Agnese, UIWs former president who carried the medical school vision into reality, predicted this will become the crown jewel of the citys medical community.

We share his enthusiasm. It will be exciting to see San Antonios newest medical school evolve and grow with time.

This is a tremendous addition to the UIW campus, one that will serve this community for generations.

The rest is here:

UIW's med school a gem for the community - mySanAntonio.com

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ7) The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine is welcoming the class of 2021.

Monday morning, the new students posed for photographs on the steps of the school.

It's a select group. The school received more than 4,400 applications for 42 slots.

This year for the first time, there are more women in the class than men.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They're new to Roanoke, and ready to get to work.

And the excitement shows on the faces of the medical school's newest students.

David Shahmanyan is medical student from California.

"I'm on the moon," he told us. "I'm so excited. I'm feeling like my whole life has been leading to this moment. I've known since I was a kid that I wanted to be a doctor and I feel like now I get to finally live my dream."

Classmate Tien Nguyen is from northern Virginia, and is now getting to know the Roanoke Valley.

"I just fell in love with the mountains on the drive here, and I'm excited to see what the city has to offer."

The success of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine can be measured in many ways, says founding Dean Cynda Johnson. In the school's outreach to the community, for example.

"Our students are very active in the community. they work at Bradley Free Clinic," Johnson said. "They even have their own night VTCSOM night when the patients are all seen by our students, supervised by our faculty. They tutor. Really the list goes on and on."

And since the medical school was established, the number of physicians at Carilion Clinic has grown from about 460 to 680.

Nick Conte is Senior Vice President with Carilion Clinic.

"Looking back, it serves as the cornerstone perhaps for an ecosystem around research and education and technology in the health sciences," Conte said. "And that's a really huge advance for us as a region, I think, and something that will pay dividends, in my view, for decades."

Follow @WDBJ7 on Twitter and like WDBJ7 on Facebook

Continued here:

As new students arrive, impact of medical school continues to grow - WDBJ7

For Kelly Thompson, the opportunity to finally receive her white physicians coat Monday was surreal.

Ive been working toward this for the longest time, and its finally here, she said.

The Indianapolis resident was one of 162 students who make up the inaugural class of the new Joplin campus of the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences. The class of 2021 took part Monday in a formal "white-coating" ceremony to mark the start of their four-year journey through medical school.

Paula Gregory, dean of the Joplin campus, said the white coats are a way for students to share the traditions of medicine as well as a means of staying connected with the school and the community.

The white coat is a symbol of a doctor, a person who teaches, advises and is privileged to know the inner workings of a patients life, she said during the ceremony, which took place at Joplin High School. It is the accomplishment of becoming a true medical student.

Marc Hahn, president of KCU, told class members that they will set the example for future generations of medical students who will follow them through KCU Joplin. The campus has a mission of educating future health care providers that can practice in underserved and rural areas of the country.

To the class of 2021: You are pioneers in a new era of medical education, one that will make a difference in meeting the medical and rural health needs of Southwest Missouri, this region and the nation, he said.

The class is representative of a wide swath of the United States, with students coming from California, New York and nearly everywhere in between. The international scene is also represented, with students hailing from Canada, Singapore, South Korea, Syria, Russia, Italy, Iraq and Lebanon.

Many students come from the middle part of the country, from as far south as Texas and as far north as Michigan and Wisconsin. A large portion come from more regional areas, including Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

And local applicants were not overlooked. A handful of students come from the Joplin area, with at least nine being graduates of Missouri Southern State University and two coming from Pittsburg (Kansas) State University.

Harmeet Kaur, from Stoney Creek, Ontario, applied to both the Kansas City and Joplin campuses of KCU after researching the school online. She said she was happy to be accepted to the inaugural Joplin class.

I was very excited because its a new school, and there are more opportunities to start new things, like clubs and activities, she said. I felt like (KCU Joplin) would be the best school to give me the best education as a physician.

Kaur said she also was ecstatic to receive her official white coat.

This is something Ive waited many years for, she said.

Nathan Field, from Spokane, Washington, said it felt right when he received his acceptance letter from KCU Joplin.

I had a couple of options (for medical school), and this one, I knew it was well thought of and that Id get the education I wanted, he said.

Dressed afterward in his white coat, Field said the ceremony could mean only one thing I guess now it means its time to go to work, he said.

Upcoming

A second white-coating ceremony, for incoming students of the Kansas City campus, will be held Saturday.

See original here:

KCU Joplin students start medical school with 'white-coating' ceremony - Joplin Globe

BOSTON (July 24, 2017)Ready to learn about diabetes, asthma, halitosis, cancer disparities and more, 22 high school students from around Massachusetts have been at Tufts University School of Medicine for five weeks to take part in the Teachers and High School Students program, an annual summer program providing students interested in the health professions with educational experiences and guidance from faculty mentors.

The Teachers and High School Students (TAHSS) program, which began at Tufts in 1989, fosters the interest students in grades 10-12 have in careers in science, medicine and health. During the five-week program, the students are tutored by Tufts dental and medical school students in gross anatomy, physical diagnosisand aspects of general and specialty dentistry and nutrition, andparticipate in team-building field trips across the Boston areaand spend up to 25 hours working with a faculty member in a clinic or science lab on an independent research project, which they present to family, friends and faculty at the end of the program. Tufts admissions representatives also provide students with information on the college application process and financial aid.

Many future scientists, technicians and physicians take biology in high school and want to learn more; TAHSS introduces students to the next couple of steps through mentoring and applied science, said Joyce A. Sackey, M.D., dean for multicultural affairs and global health at Tufts University School of Medicine. Programs like TAHSS help prepare students for what they might experience in an academic and research setting, and help them to see the connection between the work we do and real life challenges facing their community.

This years program runs June 28 July 28. The students will present their research projects this Friday at a celebration on Tufts Boston Health Sciences campus.

Participating in the program this year are:

Salina Amanuel Roslindale, MA (Wayland High School)

Nadim Barakat North Attleboro, MA (Al-Noor Academy)

Sarah Barnes Chelsea, MA (Chelsea High School)

Cole Bassett Framingham, MA (Framingham High School)

Evans Berreondo Brighton, MA (Boston Latin School)

Diego Caldern Arlington, MA (Arlington High School)

Seldine Chambers-Sutton Springfield, MA (Springfield High School of Science and Technology)

Justin Fenton Lynnfield, MA (KIPP Academy Lynn Collegiate)

Anagha Kumar Hopkinton, MA (Hopkinton High School)

Loi Ly Dorchester, MA (Boston Latin Academy)

Kathleen Mungai Lowell, MA (Lowell High School)

Nadine Najah Danvers, MA (Pioneer Charter School of Science II)

Dang Nguyen Boston (Boston Latin Academy)

Athena Nol-Mao Lowell, MA (Lowell High School)

Chidinma Nwodo Hyde Park, MA (Needham High School)

Izu Nwodo Hyde Park, MA (Needham High School)

Karina Perez Springfield, MA (Springfield Central High School)

Ariana Rauch Boston (Boston Latin School)

Goranit Sakunchotpanit Braintree, MA (Braintree High School)

Sunny Tang Carlisle, MA (Concord-Carlisle Regional High School)

Kayla Tat Boston (Josiah Quincy Upper School)

Sophia Tran Dorchester, MA (Boston Latin School)

TAHSS is open to all students but encourages applicants from members of groups that are under-represented in medicine and science and members of economically and educationally disadvantaged communities.

The institutions hosting the students this year are Tufts University School of Medicine, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, Tufts Medical Center and Baystate Medical Center.

The Teachers and High School Students program is one of Tufts signature initiatives to mentor students of diverse backgrounds with aspirations of careers in medicine, dental medicine, biomedical sciences and health. It is one of a number ofpipeline programsat Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts. Tufts offers programs for students in middle school, high school and college, as well as college graduates.

The Teachers and High School Students program is funded by Tufts University School of Medicine.

###

About Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences

Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences are international leaders in medical and population health education and advanced research. Tufts University School of Medicine emphasizes rigorous fundamentals in a dynamic learning environment to educate physicians, scientists, and public health professionals to become leaders in their fields. The School of Medicine and the Sackler School are renowned for excellence in education in general medicine, the biomedical sciences, and public health, as well as for research at the cellular, molecular, and population health level. The School of Medicine is affiliated with six major teaching hospitals and more than 30 health care facilities. Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School undertake research that is consistently rated among the highest in the nation for its effect on the advancement of medical and prevention science.

See original here:

High school students get peek at medical school life - Tufts Now

Four days after The Times published a story about drug use by the then-dean of USCs medical school, the university announced it was moving to fire Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito and said it was outraged and disgusted by his conduct.

USC Provost Michael Quick said the university decided to act because it had been shown extremely troubling information that same day about Puliafitos behavior. Quick provided no details. But he said it was the first time we saw such information firsthand.

I know many people wanted us to act on allegations and hearsay, but we needed actual facts, Quick wrote in a letter to the faculty.

It remains unclear when top USC officials first learned about the allegations involving Puliafito. But The Times made repeated inquiries over the last 15 months about Puliafito, in some cases describing information reporters had gathered about the dean.

USCs leaders never responded to the inquiries. Numerous phone calls were not returned, emails went unanswered and a letter seeking an interview with USC President C.L. Max Nikias to discuss Puliafito was returned to The Times by courier, unopened.

Only after The Times published its report Monday did USC address the matter publicly. By Friday, officials deplored Puliafitos conduct and said they had engaged a law firm to look into the administrations handling of the matter.

Medical ethicists said USC had a duty to look into allegations about Puliafito immediately, even if they were incomplete or uncorroborated. A prompt internal investigation was necessary, they said, regardless of whether the university decided it could answer The Times questions.

Dr. Daniel Sulmasy, a Georgetown University professor of biomedical ethics, said the need for a swift inquiry was especially pressing because of Puliafitos role as an overseer of faculty members, clinicians, students and research grants. These professionals are held to a higher moral standard than other persons, he said.

The allegations are so serious, he could put patients at risk, said Art Caplan, founding head of the Division of Bioethics at New York Universitys Langone Medical Center. I would say if youre not going to fire him outright because youre waiting to get confirmation of the facts, I would be at least moving to suspend him and figure out whats going on here.

Do you have information about USC's former med school dean? We want to hear from you

The Times report, published Monday, described in detail how Puliafito kept company with a circle of criminals and drug addicts and used methamphetamine and other drugs while serving as dean of the Keck School of Medicine. The article cited photos and videos reviewed by The Times that showed Puliafito and his friends, who were in their 20s and 30s, partying in 2015 and 2016.

The images include some in which Puliafitos companions are seen holding drug paraphernalia during an after-hours visit to the deans office at USC.

Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

The campus of the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

The campus of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

One member of Puliafitos circle was a 21-year-old woman who overdosed in his presence at a Pasadena hotel three weeks before he abruptly quit as dean in March 2016, in the middle of the spring term.

USC has not said whether the incident was related to Puliafitos resignation.

After stepping down as dean, the Harvard-educated Puliafito, a renowned eye surgeon, remained on the Keck faculty, continued to accept new patients and represented the university in public as recently as last weekend.

On Tuesday, a day after The Times report was published, Nikias said in a letter to the campus community that USC would examine and address the accounts but also suggested the school had not determined whether they were true. His statement did not say whether the university had known about the details before the article was published.

Our university categorically condemns the unlawful possession, use, or distribution of drugs, the president wrote. We are concerned about Dr. Puliafito and his family and hope that, if the articles assertions are true, he receives the help and treatment he may need for a full recovery.

On Friday, Nikias released a strongly worded statement, saying we are outraged and disgusted by this individuals behavior. The same day, Quick told the faculty that Puliafito had been barred from the campus and from any association with USC.

Paul Pringle, Sarah Parvini and Adam Elmahrek

The Times investigation began with a tip about the Pasadena hotel incident. Paramedics rushed the woman, Sarah Warren, to a hospital, where she recovered. A police report said officers found methamphetamine in the hotel room. No arrests were made.

A witness to the incident told the newspaper of phoning Nikias office, giving two employees an anonymous account of the overdose and demanding that USC take action against Puliafito.

Phone records reviewed by The Times showed the witness made a six-minute call to Nikias office on March 14, 2016, 10 days after the overdose. The tipster said he did not expect a call back but had told the USC employees he would go to the media if action wasnt taken.

Last week, Puliafitos successor as dean, Dr. Rohit Varma, told a gathering of scores of students that USC had found no evidence, particularly, of that phone call. Varma told the students that Puliafito had appeared drunk at off-campus events and had sought treatment for alcoholism. He said details in the story came as a shock.

The Times first contacted USC about Puliafito the month after the overdose. In response, Puliafito said in an April 20, 2016, email that he resigned as dean to take a position in the biotech industry. He never again replied to interview requests or written questions.

In May 2016, The Times left a phone message and sent an email to USCs senior vice president for university relations, Thomas Sayles. The email said, without going into detail, that the newspaper was aware of the circumstances preceding Puliafitos resignation and wanted to hear from USC about how it dealt with the matter. Sayles did not respond.

The next month, USC hosted a catered reception for Puliafito on a sun-splashed lawn at USCs health sciences campus in Boyle Heights. As dozens of Keck employees looked on, Nikias praised Puliafitos contributions to the school as dean.

The Times continued to gather information about the overdose. In a November 2016 email, a reporter asked to interview Nikias and Quick, saying an upcoming story would examine in detail the off-campus events that preceded Dr. Puliafitos resignation. Again, there was no reply.

Last January, a reporter visited Nikias San Marino home. He was away, and the reporter gave a note for him to Nikias wife. The note was in a sealed envelope; it similarly asked Nikias to speak to the reporter about the events surrounding Puliafitos resignation.

The next day, the envelope was returned unopened to The Times by courier, with a letter of complaint from Brenda Maceo, USCs vice president for public relations and marketing. The letter said the reporter had crossed the line by visiting the Nikias home.

Thomas Meredith / For The Times

USC President C. L. Max Nikias released a statement Friday saying "we are outraged and disgusted" by Dr. Puliafito's behavior. Repeated requests for comment by him over the last 15 months went unanswered.

USC President C. L. Max Nikias released a statement Friday saying "we are outraged and disgusted" by Dr. Puliafito's behavior. Repeated requests for comment by him over the last 15 months went unanswered. (Thomas Meredith / For The Times)

The Times did more reporting. On March 2 of this year, the newspaper emailed an interview request and a list of questions to Nikias. It said a reporter had learned of the witness call to Nikias office. The email also said that the hotel room where the young woman overdosed had been registered to Puliafito and that meth was found in the room.

Attached to the email was a recording of the 911 call a hotel employee made to report the apparent overdose. On the recording, Puliafito is heard identifying himself as a doctor and saying the woman was his girlfriend. He told the 911 dispatcher that the woman had a bunch of drinks and shes sleeping.

When the dispatcher asked if she had taken anything else, Puliafito said, I think just the alcohol. A police spokeswoman later told The Times the woman had overdosed on the same drugs found in the room methamphetamine.

Nikias did not respond to the March 2 email. Two reporters visited his office that day to ask for an interview. Nikias chief of staff, Dennis Cornell, told them, The president will not be speaking to The Times on this matter.

This month, Nikias did not reply to a final email from The Times requesting an interview before the newspapers investigation was published.

Ann Fromholz, a Pasadena lawyer and USC law school alumna who has conducted hundreds of workplace investigations, said its common for employers to launch investigations prompted by anonymous tips or inquiries from outside institutions.

Even though the employer doesnt know the details of the complaining party, they are nonetheless obligated to investigate and determine if misconduct occurred, Fromholz said.

As outrage over the Puliafito revelations grew, Quick on Wednesday wrote the USC faculty a memo attempting to explain the universitys actions.

I want to reassure you that all along we have taken this matter very seriously, that we made what we felt were the best decisions we could make, as swiftly as could be done in a prudent and thoughtful manner, and given the information that we had at any given time, he wrote.

Responding to those on campus who asked why the university didnt take unilateral actions against Puliafito, the provost said it followed the rules.

If any of us were in a similar situation, we would want the university to follow its established processes in a deliberative and careful manner, he wrote.

Gus Ruelas / USC

USC Provost Michael Quick in a memo to faculty said the university acted "in a prudent and thoughtful manner" on information surrounding Dr. Puliafito.

USC Provost Michael Quick in a memo to faculty said the university acted "in a prudent and thoughtful manner" on information surrounding Dr. Puliafito. (Gus Ruelas / USC)

On Friday, Nikias announced that former federal prosecutor Debra Wong Yang would lead a thorough investigation into both Puliafitos conduct and the universitys response.

Nikias said that in this process of examination, USC officials would look to improve ways in which we could have recognized the severity of the situation sooner.

He called on all USC employees to cooperate fully and swiftly with the investigation.

Yang is a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, a firm with close ties to USC.

The firms managing partner, Kenneth M. Doran, is a graduate of USCs Gould School of Law and a former chairman of its board of councilors. He has also been a prominent fundraiser for the school. Gibson Dunn was cited on the USC law school website in 2014 for achieving 100% participation by USC alumni at the firm in a fundraising drive.

Yang represented USC when it faced a wrongful-death lawsuit in 2012 filed by the parents of two graduate students who were slain off-campus. The suit was dismissed in 2013.

Yangs profile page on the Gibson Dunn website says she has worked as an adjunct professor at the USC law school. She last taught classes there in the late 1990s, according to a USC spokesman.

USC declined to comment further on Saturday, saying in a statement it is imperative to let the inquiry by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher run its course so as to not impede its progress or cloud the recollections of those who may have information to share. Our priority now is to obtain a clear picture of exactly what happened and to ensure the well-being and trust of our students at USC, the patients at the Keck School and our entire university community.

Sights, sounds, and the people that made the first day of 2017's Comic-Con a sight to behold.

Sights, sounds, and the people that made the first day of 2017's Comic-Con a sight to behold.

paul.pringle@latimes.com

adam.elmahrek@latimes.com

matt.hamilton@latimes.com

sarah.parvini@latimes.com

Times staff writer Harriet Ryan contributed to this report.

ALSO

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Original post:

USC received more than a year of questions about former medical ... - Los Angeles Times

HUNTINGTON - The Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine's graduate medical education programs have ranked significantly above the national mean on the 2016-17 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Resident and Faculty Survey, according to a news release from the university.

The assessment, conducted annually by the council, surveys medical residents for their feedback in six areas of accreditation compliance, including duty hours, faculty, evaluation, educational content, resources and patient safety/teamwork. Those scores are then compared with other institutions across the country. In every category, Marshall's rank was above the national mean.

Paulette S. Wehner, M.D., vice dean for graduate medical education, said the positive feedback from Marshall residents ranked the school very highly in terms of program satisfaction.

"We are very pleased that Marshall has been recognized for its diligence in providing quality educational experiences," Wehner said in the release. "The school has worked hard to ensure our residents receive superior clinical training, and congratulations go out to the individual training programs that make these results possible."

The school also scored well in terms of faculty satisfaction with regard to the residency programs. Faculty were asked to respond to questions in the same categories as the residents, with the exception of duty hours. Again, the school ranked above the national mean in all areas.

In congratulating Wehner and others in graduate medical education, Dean Joseph I. Shapiro, M.D., also said Marshall's training programs are in full compliance with national standards.

"In April, we received the ACGME accreditation letter informing us that all 15 programs are in compliance," Shapiro said. "Moreover, they commended Dr. Wehner and her team for demonstrated substantial compliance with the institutional requirements. This glowing report is a testament to the outstanding work by our central GME office, the clinical departments and our hospital partners, all of whom are essential to the success of the graduate medical education teaching environment."

The school of medicine's residency and fellowship programs include family and community health, sports medicine, internal medicine, cardiology, endocrinology, interventional cardiology, hematology-oncology, nephrology, pulmonary, medicine/pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, orthopaedic surgery, pediatrics, psychiatry and surgery.

Residents, or "house officers," are physicians who have graduated from medical school and are in specialty training, which lasts from a minimum of three to sometimes in excess of seven years.

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Med school programs rank high on national survey - Huntington Herald Dispatch

He added that the doctor was barred from the campus and any school-related events or activities.

We certainly understand that substance abuse is a tragic and devastating disease, the statement said. But we are also bound to our responsibilities as a university to take the necessary actions concerning Dr. Puliafitos status.

Attempts to reach Dr. Puliafito on Saturday were unsuccessful. A phone number listed in public records with a Pasadena, Calif., residence was disconnected. A faculty page for him on the Keck School of Medicine website had been taken down.

The Los Angeles Times reported that he was seen on videos apparently smoking methamphetamine and consorting with addicts and criminals.

One woman told The Times that he was with her when she overdosed in a hotel room and that he had taken her to his campus office to use drugs. The woman, Sarah Warren, who worked as a prostitute, said they were constant companions after meeting in early 2015.

He resigned as the dean of the medical school less than a month after Ms. Warren overdosed. The Times, citing the Keck website, reported that he continued to accept new patients at campus eye clinics after his resignation.

A renowned eye surgeon responsible for several breakthroughs in ophthalmology, Dr. Puliafito led aggressive fund-raising efforts that garnered more than $1 billion for the medical school.

The university also announced on Friday that it had hired Debra W. Yang, a partner at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles and a former member of the Los Angeles Police Commission, to investigate the doctors conduct and the universitys response.

Our priority now is to obtain a clear picture of exactly what happened and to ensure the well-being and trust of our students at U.S.C., the patients at the Keck School and our entire university community, the university said in an email on Saturday.

On Tuesday, a day after The Los Angeles Times published its report, C. L. Max Nikias, the university president, wrote in an open letter that Dr. Puliafito had been placed on leave and could not treat patients.

We are concerned about Dr. Puliafito and his family and hope that, if the articles assertions are true, he receives the help and treatment he may need for a full recovery, he wrote.

Reports of high-powered executives, doctors and others with substance abuse issues have become all too common individuals who function in their workplace but have serious issues affecting their personal lives.

Matt Stevens contributed reporting.

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USC Moves to Fire Former Medical School Dean Over Drug Allegations - New York Times

Faced with mounting questions and anger on campus, USC announced Friday that it was hiring an ex-federal prosecutor to investigate a report by The Times that the former dean of the universitys medical school associated with criminals and drug abusers and used methamphetamine and other drugs with them.

We are outraged and disgusted by this individuals behavior, USC President C.L. Max Nikias said in a letter to the campus community, referring to Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito, former dean of the Keck School of Medicine.

USC officials said they had begun the process to strip Puliafito of his faculty tenure and terminate him. In a separate letter to the faculty, Provost Michael W. Quick said the university had just learned about egregious behavior on the part of the former dean concerning substance abuse activities with people who arent affiliated with USC.

The statements by USCs top officials were much more strongly worded than comments they made earlier in the week.

Paul Pringle, Harriet Ryan, Adam Elmahrek, Matt Hamilton and Sarah Parvini

Photos and video show then-head of Keck School of Medicine partying with criminals and drug-users.

Photos and video show then-head of Keck School of Medicine partying with criminals and drug-users. (Paul Pringle, Harriet Ryan, Adam Elmahrek, Matt Hamilton and Sarah Parvini)

Quick said that shift was due to evidence officials reviewed Friday.

This was the first time we saw such information first-hand, Quick wrote. It is extremely troubling and we need to take serious action.

He did not reveal the evidence or say how it was different from the detailed account of Puliafitos behavior published in The Times on Monday.

Puliafito is barred from our campuses and any association with USC, including attending or participating in university events, the provost said.

Puliafito had continued to represent USC in public as recently as Saturday, when he spoke at a medical education seminar in Pasadena sponsored by the Keck School.

The Times report said that Puliafito used drugs with a circle of much younger people while leading the medical school.

It is crucial that we understand how these events occurred, Nikias said in his letter.

The universitys investigation will be overseen by Debra Wong Yang, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles and a former member of the Los Angeles Police Commission.

Yang represented USC when it faced a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against USC in 2012 by the parents of two graduate students who were slain off-campus. The suit was dismissed in 2013.

Yangs profile page on the Gibson Dunn website says she has worked as an adjunct professor for USCs Gould School of Law. It does not say when she taught there. She did not immediately respond to an interview request.

The law firm has close ties to USC. Its managing partner, Kenneth M. Doran, is a graduate of the USC law school and a former chairman of its board of councilors. He has also been a prominent fundraiser for the school. Gibson Dunn was cited in USC Law magazine in 2009 for achieving 100% participation by its lawyers in a fundraising drive. Of 28 law firms cited for their generosity, Gibson Dunn had the most USC alumni, with more than 30, according to the magazine.

Nikias said that Yang would conduct a thorough investigation into the details of Carmen Puliafitos conduct, the universitys response, as well as our existing policies and procedures.

All of us must cooperate fully and swiftly with the investigation, the letter said. It is critical we understand how and why this happened so we can do everything possible to improve our ability to prevent something like this from happening again.

Nikias said Yang would present findings and recommendations to the executive committee of the USC board of trustees. He did not say whether the findings would be made public.

Nikias has declined interview requests by The Times, and did not respond to written questions addressing how USC handled the Puliafito affair.

On Monday, when The Times lengthy investigation was published, USC announced that Puliafito, 66, had been placed on leave from his positions as a faculty member and Keck eye surgeon, and was no longer seeing patients.

Puliafito, who led the medical school for nearly a decade, resigned his $1.1-million-a-year deans post in March 2016, in the middle of the spring term, saying he wanted to explore outside opportunities.

He did not mention that three weeks earlier, a 21-year-old woman had overdosed in his presence in a Pasadena hotel room. The woman was rushed to a hospital, where she recovered. Police found methamphetamine in the hotel room, according to a police report, but made no arrests.

A tip about the episode prompted The Times to investigate. The newspaper interviewed six people who said they partied and used drugs with Puliafito in Pasadena, Huntington Beach and Las Vegas, as well as at USC. They ranged in age from the late teens to late 30s. None were USC students.

Members of the group captured their exploits in photos and videos shot in 2015 and 2016.

Steve Lopez: USC bosses flunk the leadership test amid shocking allegations about former medical school dean

In one video, a tuxedo-clad Puliafito displays an orange pill on his tongue and says into the camera, Thought Id take an ecstasy before the ball. Then he swallows the pill.

In another, Puliafito uses a butane torch to heat a large glass pipe outfitted for methamphetamine use. He inhales and then unleashes a thick plume of white smoke. Seated next to him on a sofa, a young woman appears to smoke heroin from a piece of heated foil.

On Wednesday, the current medical school dean addressed angry students.

These allegations, if they are true, they are horrible and despicable, Dr. Rohit Varma told the gathering of scores of medical scholars and graduate students at the Keck School of Medicine in Boyle Heights.

Hes a man who had a brilliant career, all gone down the drain, Varma said. Im standing in this place where my predecessor now has this taint. ... It is sad.

He also said that Puliafito had sought treatment in the past for alcoholism, but that the allegations in the article that he used drugs came as a complete shock to us.

At the meeting on the Keck campus, students some wearing hospital scrubs said university administrators should have known more about Puliafitos troubling behavior, including reports that he appeared drunk or otherwise intoxicated at campus events. One woman said that it seems shocking that no one has been able to figure anything out in the last 10 years. ... People are now going to be questioning our professionalism.

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USC moves to fire, ban from campus former medical school dean over 'egregious behavior' - Los Angeles Times