By Susan Kinzie
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 15, 2007

David A. Kessler, a former head of the Food and Drug Administration, has been terminated as dean of the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine.

After a long-running dispute over the school's finances, in which he questioned accounting controls and an anonymous letter launched an audit of his spending, he was asked to resign this summer but refused.

Kessler said that after years of questioning "financial irregularities" that predated his 2003 appointment, the situation remained unresolved. "I tried to solve the problems, because this money was not being used for the medical center, for program development, recruitment, medical education," he said.

"There are costs in life when you try to do the right thing."

Officials at the highly regarded medical school said the university investigated Kessler's concerns after he raised them in 2005. An investigation by the university auditor and two additional reviews found no evidence of financial irregularities and concluded that the medical school is in strong financial condition, according to a statement released by the university.

The school has a policy protecting whistle-blowers, the statement said, and Kessler has access to a confidential retaliation grievance procedure.

Chancellor J. Michael Bishop sent an e-mail to colleagues yesterday announcing Kessler had left the office of dean of the medical school and vice chancellor for medical affairs. "I thank him for his energetic service to the university and his substantial achievements on behalf of UCSF," the message said.

Professor Sam Hawgood was named to serve as interim dean, effective immediately, Bishop wrote, and an international search for a new dean would begin promptly.

An audit was conducted in 2005 after an anonymous letter blamed Kessler for the declining finances.

"When David Kessler came to UCSF he inherited more than $90 million in Dean's Office reserves," the letter said, according to a copy Kessler gave The Washington Post. "In a mere 18 months Dean Kessler has spent or formally committed all of the reserves of the Dean's Office and has also incurred substantial long-term debt in the form of lavish salary increases and exponential growth in new, highly compensated faculty."

An audit cleared Kessler of wrongdoing. One of the country's best-known public health advocates, he served as commissioner of the FDA during the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. He came to UCSF from Yale, where he had been dean of the medical school.

Kessler shared with The Post spreadsheets of school finances, a letter from the university counsel naming him as a whistle-blower and financial analyses he prepared for UCSF. One memo sent to the counsel and the auditor said that when he was recruited, the school was portrayed as being in much better fiscal condition than it was.

Kessler said he sent another analysis of financial irregularities June 13, and on June 29 he was asked to resign quietly.

"I refused," he said. "I couldn't. This was a matter of principle. This was a matter of financial integrity. So they decided to fire me."

A professor of pediatrics, epidemiology and biostatistics, he is a tenured faculty member and plans to stay at UCSF and teach.