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A controversy over leadership of a cancer center at the University of Utah is leading to multiple transitions -- and has led the president to announce his plans to leave.
Vivian Lee resigned as senior vice president of university health sciences at the University of Utah just days after she abruptly fired Mary Beckerle, head of the Huntsman Cancer Institute on campus, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Faculty members and the influential Huntsman family of donors objected to Beckerle’s termination as leader of the institute, and she was promptly reinstated last month with a new chain of command, allowing her to report directly to David Pershing, university president, and bypass Lee.
Pershing announced this week that A. Lorris Betz, former CEO of university health care, will fill in for Lee while the university looks for a permanent replacement. Lee will stay on as a professor of radiology. "I have worked as hard as I could to carry forward the mission of our entire health sciences community and of the university," Lee wrote in a resignation announcement to colleagues. "Taking account of the events of the last two weeks, I believe the best interests of the university are now served by the decision I am taking today."
Then Pershing announced Monday that he would be leaving so that the search for his successor could be run at the same time as a search for the new senior vice president, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Pershing said he had planned to leave at the end of the 2017-18 academic year but moved up the timetable so that the searches could be conducted together.
