In effort to rescue troubled Drew medical school, two new boards are named

Top leaders at prominent universities, hospitals and a foundation are taking control of the governing board of the beleaguered Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, stepping in to try to rescue the South Los Angeles school from financial disaster.

The action Friday came after the existing board of trustees resigned en masse, appointed replacements and created a new advisory board for the 44-year-old school, founded to train physicians for underserved minority communities.

The school is at risk of seizure because it was not expected to make loan and insurance payments on $43 million borrowed to build a state-of-the-art nursing school, which opened last month.

The members of the new boards are:

Board of trustees

• Chair ­ M. Roy Wilson MD, MS, chancellor emeritus at the University of Colorado Denver
• Vice Chair ­ Cornelius Hopper M.D., vice president for health affairs, emeritus, University of California
• Eric Bing MD, PhD, MBA, endowed professor of global health and HIV, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science
• Diana M. Bontá RN, Dr.PH., vice president of public affairs for Kaiser Permanente Southern California
• Patrick T. Dowling MD, MPH, associate director professor, UCLA, and chair, UCLA department of family medicine
• Andrew B. Leeka MBA, MPH, president and COO, Good Samaritan Hospital
• James Lott MBA, executive vice president, Hospital Assn. of Southern California
• Marvin O'Quinn MPH, executive vice president and COO, Catholic Healthcare West
• Thomas M. Priselac MPH, president and chief executive, Cedars-Sinai Health System
•  Carmen A. Puliafito MD, dean, Keck School of Medicine, USC
• Eugene Washington M.D., Vice Chancellor, UCLA Health Sciences and Dean, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Board of Councilors, formed to advise the board of trustees

• Chairman ­ Mark Ridley-Thomas PhD, supervisor, Los Angeles County
• Gene Block PhD, chancellor, UCLA
• Benjamin K. Chu MD, MPH, MACP, president, Kaiser Permanente Southern California
• Lloyd Dean EdD, president and chief executive, Catholic Healthcare West
• Mildred Garcia EdD, president, Cal State Dominguez Hills
• C. L. Max Nikias PhD, president, USC
• Thomas M. Priselac MPH, president and chief executive, Cedars-Sinai Health System
• Robert K. Ross MD, president and chief executive, The California Endowment

Read: Drew University board resigns, appoints new members

-- Rong-Gong Lin II

Photo: Charles Drew University opened a $43-million nursing school last month with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Paying the loan on the facility has caused financial distress. Credit: Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[zeldap]

This is a worthy investment of time and talent.

[Camille]

What a tragic waste of money has gone into the continual need to rescue this originally named Drew/King facility, all in the presumed interest of improving the health and welfare of the residents of the Watts and surrounding areas.
It is only kept alive for the purpose of shoring up shaky political careers as politicians (fools) rush in where angels fear to tread.

[Interesting]

This appears to be a rare instance where normally competing interests have decided to try and work together to improve the health of the residents of south LA. That being said, there must be something in it for these big league health players to get involved. Do you think the impending Obama care changes to the health care system might have contributed to the involvment of such big players?

[kuruc]

i also think this drew hospital is a waste of taxpayers money. most people using it don't pay taxes.illegals or on welfare/medical.

[R.Johnson]

The article is about the SCHOOL not the hospital. The school doesn't provide healthcare. They provide an MD program for students from underserved communities who intend to return to their community to practice.