U. of Southern California Removes Medical-School Dean as Newspaper Reports Sexual-Misconduct Claim
U. of Southern California Removes Medical-School Dean as Newspaper Reports Sexual-Misconduct Claim https://shar.es/1VUCkm via @chronicle
October 5, 2017 by Andrew Mytelka
U. of Southern California Removes Medical-School Dean as Newspaper Reports Sexual-Misconduct Claim
Another medical-school dean has toppled at the University of Southern California amid the disclosure of alleged unsavory behavior.
The university on Thursday removed as dean Rohit Varma, an ophthalmologist, as the
Los Angeles Times was about to publish
an article describing his alleged sexual harassment of and alleged retaliation against a young woman he supervised in 2003, an episode that only briefly deflected his career.
The news broke just two and a half months after the
Times published its last
medical-dean takedown, of Dr. Varmas predecessor, Carmen A. Puliafito, also an ophthalmologist, who was described as a heavy drinker and drug user who treated colleagues poorly and who consorted with prostitutes and criminals.
But like Dr. Puliafito, a fund-raising powerhouse, Dr. Varma was seen as an ideal candidate for the job because of his ability to bring tens of millions of dollars in grant money to the university, a talent the
Times suggests may help explain the universitys willingness to overlook the 2003 incident when he sought to succeed Dr. Puliafito. In the end he served for only a year.