University of Florida administrators cut cornersin the rush to hire Dr. Joseph Ladapo with tenure in the College of Medicine last fall, an investigative committee of the UF Faculty Senate concluded.
A report submitted by the committee Thursday found "irregularities" that "appeared to violate the spirit, and in review the exact letter, of UF hiring regulations and procedures, particularly in the vital role faculty play in evaluating the qualifications of their peers."
Even so, faculty in the College of Medicine acknowledged that "this example was a more extreme version of what often occurs," according to the report.
Ladapo was named state surgeon general by Gov. Ron DeSantis within days of his appointment to the UF faculty. Since then, he has pushed back against COVID-19 safety measures recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, further limited publicly available data related to the pandemic,and downplayed the importance of vaccines.
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The Gainesville Sun and the USA TODAY Network in Florida previously reported the pivotal role played by the chair of the UF Board of Trustees, Morteza “Mori” Hosseini, in bringing Ladapo to the Gainesville campus.
The Ad Hoc Committee on the Hiring of Dr. Joseph Ladapo was formed on Dec. 10 by Faculty Senate Chair David Bloom following news media reports on the hiring process. While the report shedslight on how the process proceeded through three weeks in September, it does not directly impact Ladapo's status on faculty at UF.
Ladapo filled a position that had been open for nearly two years, but the job description was altered "to better reflect Dr. Ladapo's expected functions" at the College of Medicine. While that's not unusual, the committee said, administrators also bypassed the regular search committee process.
A search committee was named, but members of the committee say they were not consulted and didn't participate in Ladapo's hire in any way. One of those listed as a search committee member, Shaima Coffey, hasn't been employed by the College of Medicine for over two years.
Responding to the ad hoc committee's report, Hessy Fernandez, director of strategic communications for UF, said in an email Thursday evening, "Dr. Joseph Ladapo was a tenured faculty member at UCLA who received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, a doctorate in health policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and completed clinical training in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the teaching hospital at Harvard Medical School.
"He was a faculty member at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine and a staff fellow for the Food and Drug Administration. He has clearly met thecriteriafor being granted tenure upon hire at the University of Florida, and he received the approval of the faculty in the UF Department of Medicine for tenure.
"The committee’s report focused on how the hiring and tenure process at the College of Medicine might differ from the hiring and tenure process for the rest of the university.The hiring process followed in Dr. Ladapo’s case is consistent with the hiring process used in other cases in the College, and the tenure process followed is consistent with the tenure process followed in all of UF’s colleges," Fernandez said..
Ladapo offered the job day before tenure approval vote
UF regulations require that tenure decisions require a vote by faculty in the department. While a faculty vote was taken on Ladapo on Sept. 17, a letter offering Ladapo the job with tenure was dated Sept. 16 and had been requested by the senior vice president for health affairs two days before that.
"It is difficult to understand how a request could be made to the President and Provost regarding a tenure application when the unit faculty had not yet voted on the matter," the ad hoc committee reported.
The ad hoc committeefound"displeasure, anger, dismay, and frustration with the process that was followed in this case. Faculty also indicated discomfort with what appeared to be a hire given preferential treatment on the basis of his political opinions or associations."
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"Following news of the hire, numerous faculty in the Department of Medicine of the College of Medicine expressed displeasure at the covert nature of the process and indicated that they regretted that they were given insufficient time and information to properly evaluate this candidate," the report states.
It continues: "Several members asked to rescind their vote about tenure but were told that was not possible. There was also a request to hold a zoom meeting to discuss possible next steps, but faculty were asked not to convene the meeting."
Some of the ad hoc committee members met with Senior Vice President David Nelson, Dean Colleen Kock and Department Chair Jamie Conti. "All three administrators felt that the process followed here was customary if not ideal," the report states.
The report includes more than dozen email messages from faculty in the College of Medicine, most expressing disappointment, dismay and "embarrassment" over the process in hiring Ladapo.
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