UT System head declares support for M.D. Anderson president
Leader got waivers on business conflicts of interest
By Todd Ackerman, Eric Berger | November 9, 2012
"The head of the University of Texas System declared his support Friday forM.D. Anderson Cancer Center PresidentDr. Ronald DePinho, 2½ weeks after the system announced a plan to manage rather than end the cancer leader's controversial industry ties.
In a letter to M.D. Anderson employees, Dr. Francisco Cigarroa wrote that DePinho followed all system policies and expectations in requesting "permissible waivers" to the institution's conflict-of-interest policy. The request, criticized in some quarters as brash, involved companies with which DePinho has key associations.
..............................
Cigarroa wrote that the entire UT System Board of Regents applauds DePinho's vision, which involves making M.D. Anderson a drug-development center that speeds research from the laboratory to the patient. Cigarroa wrote employees that "we believe in (DePinho's) bold plans and we believe in you."
DePinho said he was surprised by the letter and thanked Cigarroa and the regents for the support. DePinho, called "the quintessential multi-vested scientist-administrator" by one expert, in the spring requested a waiver from a provision of the M.D. Anderson conflict-of-interest policy prohibiting supervisors from having significant financial ties to a company funding research at the center.
The request named 10 for-profit companies and two not-for-profit institutions - at which DePinho has either ownership interests, intellectual property rights or could receive compensation."
No comments:
Post a Comment