Minutes of June 1998 MFA Meeting

Posted July 1, 1998

MEDICAL FACULTY ASSEMBLY

Meeting of June 2, 1998

ATTENDANCE

Present:

MFA Executive Board:

Kathryn R. Challoner - President
Harvey Kaslow - President Elect
Bob Stellwagen - Past President
Loren Laine - Secretary
Jim Daniel - Treasurer

Members at large:

Austin Mircheff
Jerry Gates
Wendy Mack

Representatives:

Anesthesiology: Jim Daniel
Biochemisty: Frank Markland
Cell and Neurobiology: Gene Albrecht
Children's Hospital: absent
Emergency Medicine: Michael Orlinsky
Family Medicine: Steven Stumpf
Medicine: Om Sharma
Molecular Microbiology: Joe Landolph
Neurological Surgery: absent
Neurology: absent
Norris Medical Library: Alice Kawakami
Obstetrics and Gynecology: Rebecca Sokol
Ophthalmology: Ronald Green
Orthopedics: Tom Hedman
Otolaryngology: Dennis O'Leary
Pathology: Leslie Khawli
Pediatrics: Laura Wachsman
Physiology and Biophysics: Herb Meiselman
Preventive medicine: Wendy Mack
Psychiatry: absent
Radiation Oncology: Prakashi Shrivastava
Radiology: absent
Ranchos Los Amigos: absent
Surgery: Gary Anthone
Urology: absent
Cardiothoracic Surgery: absent

Guests:

Dr. Leslie Bernstein
Dr. Clive Taylor
Dr. Peter Heseltine

A quorum was present.

MINUTES

1) With a date correction and the inclusion of Dr. Laine as present, it was moved by Jim Daniel, seconded by Peter Heseltine that the May minutes be accepted. All in favor.

2) Report regarding the status of the Governance Document and other issues - Dr. Leslie Bernstein.

The draft Governance document has been submitted to general Counsel. In addition, Dr. Bernstein is incorporating changes submitted by Drs. Landolph and Albrecht. She plans to re-submit the document to the MFA membership and then to the University administration.

Dr. Bernstein has sent a letter to Department Chairs asking that they review their faculty annually. The Department Chairs are meeting with the Dean and are being asked to to hold back money equivalent to the interest that will be lost to USC now that the County is paying the University by monthly installments.

Dr. Heseltine stated that he had met with Dr. Thomas and received assurances that USC would be made whole from that loss. Dr. Challoner stated that Dr. Van Der Meulen had also reported receiving that assurance and he had asked that this promise be confirmed in writing.

Dr. Albrecht asked Dr. Bernstein about salary rasies for Basic Science Faculty. She responded that salary increases for Faculty are determined by the Chairs after they receive their departmental budget. Dr. Albrecht asked if there was an official university policy on salary raises. Dr. Bernstein stated that there was no official policy. 3) Dr. Challoner reported on the election of MFA representatives and welcomed them. She has determined that Rancho Los Amigos is still a voting unit. Elections still need to be run in Radiation Oncology and Ranchos Los Amigos and those representatives have been notified. Dr. Kaslow distributed the MFA constitution.

4) Election of Officers of the MFA 1998/99

The membership elected the following:

5) Election of Senators to the Academic Senate:

The membership elected the following:

6) Dr. Kaslow distributed the calender of the MFA for 1998-99. Moved by Herb Meiselman, second by Prakash Shrivastava that the calender be approved. All in favor.

7) Reports: The Blue Ribbon Task Force - Dr. Taylor.

Dr. Taylor distributed the report of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Medical Education. He stated that he had asked the Finance committee for money and had been asked to prioritize and trim his budget. He stated that he had been now approved for:

Dr. Albrecht stated to Dr. Taylor that one of the main problems not addressed was the poor salary paid to certain Basic Scientists who were carrying a heavy teaching load. He stated that teaching was not rewarded at the USC School of Medicine. Dr. Meiselman agreed that the serious problems regarding teaching at the School of Medicine were due to the failure to reward teachers and the tendency to motivate researchers only. Dr. Albrecht asked why the Basic Scientists were not considered for a raise by the Finance committee. Dr. Challoner explained that the process of the Finance Committee does not involve the setting of salaries which is done by department chairs after their meetings with Dr. Ryan and Mr. Vigil to review their department's budgets. However, the Finance committee had felt very strongly that teaching should be rewarded at the USC School of Medicine and, hence, had allocated money to Dr. Taylor to provide stipends and reward teaching. The Finance Committee had also voted in favor of the Basic Science initiative. Dr. Albrecht responded that the way to improve teaching at the School was to raise the salaries of the dedicated teachers and that should receive first consideration. Dr. Challoner responded that the Finance Committe had felt that responding to the LCME recommendations, prior to their September review, was of utmost importance to the survival of the Medical School and that Dr. Taylor's requests had to be addressed, but the Finance Committee, in voting that Dr. Taylor be given this money, had hoped that there now would be rewards for teaching from Dr. Taylor's proposal. Dr. Albrecht felt that that answer was inadequate and the issue needed to be re-addressed and it was insulting to offer a stipend to him to do more work on curriculum revision when the current salary being given was so indequate. Dr. Taylor stated that he heard Dr. Albrecht's concerns and it was not much money for the amount of effort that was being asked. Dr. Meiselman agreed , pointing out the failed curriculum revision attempted several years ago. Dr. Stumpf pointed out that we really were talking about two issues here and the issue being brought before the MFA was their response to the Task Force report. Moved by Peter Heseltine, second by Prakash Shrivastava, who also called the question, that the MFA form an Ad Hoc Task Force to evaluate the report of the Blue Ribbon Task Force, to formulate input and report back to the MFA. All in favor.

8) A recommendation regarding a Joint Task Force on Governance was tabled secondary to time constraints.

9) Dr. Challoner reported that the MFA membership was due to elect representatives to three standing committees:

Dr. Albrecht asked if these representatives required approval for appointment or were the representatives on the committees by election. Dr. Bernstein replied that by the Governance document the MFA had these positions by election. Dr. Albrecht said that by the Governance document, then, these positions did not require approval of the individuals elected. Dr. Kalsow stated that the representatives to the Finance committee should be the President or the Treasurer. Dr. Heseltine felt that these positions could be opened to any qualified individual. The membership asked the MFAEB to bring to the July meeting a list of nominations to be voted on. Interested individuals should submit their names to Dr. Kaslow. The meeting was adjourned at 1:40 pm.

The next meeting of the MFA will be July 7th in the basement confernce room of the Norris Medical Library. All newly elected officers and Senators now assume their duties at the close of this meeting.