Dean of the CUNY School of Medicine Resigns
Words by Dustin Graziano
Illustration by Katie Herchenroeder
MaurizioTrevisan had been the Dean of the CUNY School of Medicine since the Fall 2011semester at City College. On February 1, 2018, Trevisan resigned from hisposition after a long battle with the CUNY administration over a budget dealfor the School of Medicine.
“Assome of you may know, I have a profound disagreement with the CUNYadministration with regard to the financial matters of the school and thebureaucratic and administrative challenges that are seriously jeopardizing ourability to grow and to pursue our ultimate goal: full accreditation,” wroteTrevisan in an email to the School of Medicine community. He goes on to mentionthat challenges include the inadequate hiring of staff, trouble with finalizingcontracts, and a “lack of clarity on the school's ability to control itsbudget.”
TheCUNY School of Medicine is in its final stages of receiving full accreditationfrom the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the officialaccrediting body for medical education programs in the U.S. and Canada leadingto the MD degree. Trevisan believes that the current challenges within theSchool of Medicine are a threat to the program’s “ability to sustain our academic mission andaccreditation.”
Trevisan was supported by several facultymembers of the School of Medicine, and by the Parents Council as well. Yet, theCUNY administration would not satisfy in improving the School of Medicine’sbudget and overcoming challenges, which Trevisan and his supporters believe topose a threat to the program. The quarrel had lasted too long for Trevisan.
“I was upset when I found out he wasresigning, it was definitely a big shock for all of us,” said second yearMicaela Prisco, a class representative of the Sophie Davis Biomedical EducationProgram at the CUNY School of Medicine. Students were not informed of theongoing struggle between their dean and the CUNY administration. “He told usthat he didn’t want us to be bothered with the stress of what he was dealingwith… He said we need to worry about becoming doctors, and that he didn’t wantto have us get involved with something that was his responsibility,” said Prisco.
Separate from the email sent to theSchool of Medicine community, Trevisan declined to comment any further on hisresignation as dean. “He was just trying to have enough in the budget to havethe school be a fully functioning medical school like several others across thecountry… That’s important in the final stages of becoming an accredited medicalschool,” said Prisco.
“I sincerely hope that the new dean will have greater successin convincing CUNY to adopt and implement administrative and bureaucraticprocesses that will allow the school to grow and establish itself as a leaderin medical education,” wrote Trevisan towards the end of his email.
Aninterim dean, Erica Friedman, who currently serves as the Chair of the Department of MedicalEducation, has assumed the position while the school searches for a new candidateto fill Trevisan’s shoes.
