Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1203108
23 23 CEO / STRATEGY Moffitt Cancer Center CEO, center director step down; conflicts of interest cited By Kelly Gooch T ampa, Fla.-based H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research In- stitute on Dec. 18, 2019, accepted the resignations of President and CEO Alan F. List, MD, and omas Sellers, an executive vice president and center director at Moffitt, the cancer center announced. e resignations were due to violations of conflict-of-interest rules through the work the center director and CEO did in China, Mof- fitt said in a news release. An internal compliance review led up to the resignations. "Moffitt initiated an internal review of team members' collabora- tions with research institutions in China aer the National Institutes of Health warned all its grant recipients of foreign efforts to influ- ence or compromise U.S. researchers," Moffitt said. "Moffitt found several compliance violations that also prompted separation of four additional researchers." Timothy Adams, Moffitt's board chairman, was named interim CEO and president. e Tampa Bay Times reported that the compliance violations were primarily associated with cancer center employees' personal involve- ment in China's "ousand Talents" program, which aims to recruit global researchers and academics. Mr. Adams said in the news release: "At Moffitt, we pride ourselves not only on our lifesaving research and world-class patient care, but also on transparency and integrity among all our employees. is was an unfortunate but necessary decision." "Going forward, this will not damage the future of our research or the care of our patients. We will continue to be careful stewards of the public money entrusted to us for cancer research. Moffitt is proud to have 7,000 of the finest medical professionals in the world fighting every day to treat and cure cancer. at is what mattered yesterday, and that is what will matter tomorrow," he added. Former Florida House Speaker H. Lee Moffitt, the cancer center's name- sake, also addressed the matter, saying in the news release: "is great institution did its job. We listened to the warnings from NIH, conducted a proactive review, and took strong action when it was needed." Dr. List, who previously was Moffitt's executive vice president and physician-in-chief as well as chief of the malignant hematology di- vision, could not immediately be reached by the Times for comment. Moffitt conducted a review, including examining its research and ed- ucation partnership with China's Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital. Moffitt said nothing indicates that the cancer center's research was compromised or patient care affected. n Kaiser Permanente names Greg Adams chairman, CEO By Kelly Gooch K aiser Permanente selected Gregory A. Adams to serve as chairman and CEO of the Oakland, Ca- lif.-based healthcare giant. Mr. Adams succeeds Bernard J. Tyson, who died in his sleep Nov. 10, 2019. "Mr. Adams is an accomplished leader with deep experi- ence across Kaiser Permanente's health plan and hospital operations," Edward Pei, chair of the executive committee and governance, accountability and nominating commit- tee of the Kaiser boards of directors, said in a news re- lease. "The board's decision to name Mr. Adams to the position demonstrates Kaiser Permanente's strong inter- nal succession planning process. For more than a decade, Mr. Adams worked on a wide variety of major initiatives and areas of focus and has led Kaiser Permanente's work on growing membership, affordability for our members and transforming and expanding access to care." Mr. Adams, a veteran healthcare executive, has served as executive vice president and group president at Kaiser since 2016. In that role, he oversaw health plan and hospi- tal operations in all eight Kaiser regions. Mr. Adams also was regional president of Kaiser for Northern California before being appointed executive vice president in 2013. He is a board member of the California Hospital Associ- ation's board of trustees, as well as a member of the Na- tional Association of Health Services Executives and the Executive Leadership Council. n