Doctor-Training Hospital Names 4 New Trustees

The university affiliated with the troubled Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center has named four prominent new members to its board of trustees, and removed a longtime community activist, as it seeks to rebuild.

The changes are part of a transformation that began last year after major failings were identified with residency training and leadership at the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.

Three of King/Drew’s 18 physician-training programs -- in surgery, radiology and neonatology -- have been ordered to close and three others face sanctions. And it is the only hospital in America to have received the lowest possible rating in its last two reviews from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

The new board members announced this week are:

* Dr. Roger J. Bulger, president of the Assn. of Academic Health Centers and former president of the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.

* Alejandro N. Mayorkas, a Los Angeles lawyer and former U.S. attorney for the Central District of California under President Clinton.

* Dr. Steven Schroeder, a professor at UC San Francisco and former chief executive of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a large health philanthropic organization.

* Richard Veloz, chief executive of the South Central Family Health Center.

“The board has been trying to renovate itself for over a year, and all four of these new members help in that regard,” said Bart Williams, a lawyer who chairs the Drew University board. “We were trying to be more national in scope.”

The appointments also diversify the board of the historically black university, adding two whites and two Latinos.

The university also announced the removal of Lillian Mobley, a community advocate who has been a trustee for a decade.

In recent months, Mobley has protested what she sees as attempts to close King/Drew and urged the community to fight against cutbacks of programs and services.

Williams said Mobley had been offered a non-voting emeritus seat on the board, but she has not yet responded.

“All I can say is that Mrs. Mobley is one of the most influential people in the history of the university,” Williams said. “She’s beloved by the community. She’s beloved by the board. The change in her status was done because we are trying to renovate the board, top to bottom.”

Last July, the Drew board dismissed two-thirds of its members after a task force led by former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher concluded it was dysfunctional and not accountable.

At the urging of the Satcher task force, the board also ousted Drew’s president, Dr. Charles Francis, in early 2004.

The Drew board currently has 13 members, but plans to grow to a maximum of 21.

Williams said the board’s goals this year include improving Drew’s physician-training programs, improving its relationship with its affiliated medical centers, raising money to gain greater independence and stability, and hiring a new president.