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Dr. Puliafito Coverage 7/20/17
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Alleged conduct by former USC dean 'horrible and despicable,' med school head tells angry students
Jul 19, 2017 | Los Angeles Times
By Sarah Parvini, Paul Pringle, Matt Hamilton and Adam Elmahrek
Addressing scores of bewildered and at times angry students, the dean of USC’s medical school said Wednesday that the university had launched multiple internal investigations into the conduct of his predecessor after The Times reported that he associated with criminals and drug abusers who told of using methamphetamine and other drugs with him. -
Drugs, sex and a USC dean: What we do and don't know about Carmen Puliafito
Jul 19, 2017 | USA Today College
By Diana Kruzman
An investigation revealed that a former administrator at the University of Southern California used illicit drugs and partied with prostitutes, criminals and a minor while he was working for the university. -
Explosive exposé says former Tufts doctor led secret life
Jul 20, 2017 | Boston Globe
By Mark Shanahan
People on the Tufts University campus no doubt read with interest and more than a little alarm a lengthy piece in the Los Angeles Times about Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito, the founding director of the New England Eye Center at Tufts Medical School in the 1990s. -
After ‘Girlfriend’ Suffers Overdose on Meth, the ‘Other' Life That Dean of USC Med School Led Is Uncovered
Jul 19, 2017 | Independent Journal Review
By Victoria Taft
The successful and brilliant career of the head of the USC Medical School appears to have gone up in a cloud of smoke from a crackling meth pipe. That’s what the Los Angeles Times reports about the former Dean of the Keck School of Medicine at USC. -
USC's Former Medical School Dean Allegedly Had a Secret Life
Jul 19, 2017 | Click Lancashire Independent News
By Joanna Estrada
The president of the University of Southern California says officials will "examine and address" a newspaper report that the recently resigned dean of the medical school abused drugs and associated with criminals. -
USC, Medical Board Respond To Firestorm Around Dean's Alleged Drug Abuse
Jul 19, 2017 | Hollywood Patch
By Paige Austin
USC officials on Wednesday acknowledged the scandal that rocked the school this week following a Los Angeles Times investigation into the former medical school dean's alleged drug abuse and association with criminals. -
USC'S Former Medical School Dean Allegedly Had A Secret Life
Jul 19, 2017 | Appsforpcdaily.com
By Carlton Cooper
Carmen Puliafito, MD, an ophthalmologist and former dean of Los Angeles-based USC Keck School of Medicine, is no longer treating patients after allegations of drug abuse and criminal association, according to the Los Angeles Times. During his almost 10 years at the university, he has been a key fundraiser, bringing in an estimated $1 billion in donations to USC. -
Buffalo native at center of USC scandal
Jul 20, 2017 | Leicester Post
By Orlando Rodriguez
An article in The Los Angeles Times reported that Puliafito, prior to resigning as dean previous year, had been spending much time with drug-users and criminals, had used methamphetamine and other illegal drugs, and had been photographed doing so in numerous locations, including his office at USC.
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Alleged conduct by former USC dean 'horrible and despicable,' med school head tells angry students
Jul 19, 2017 | Los Angeles Times
By Sarah Parvini, Paul Pringle, Matt Hamilton and Adam Elmahrek
Addressing scores of bewildered and at times angry students, the dean of USC’s medical school said Wednesday that the university had launched multiple internal investigations into the conduct of his predecessor after The Times reported that he associated with criminals and drug abusers who told of using methamphetamine and other drugs with him.
“These allegations, if they are true, they are horrible and despicable,” Dr. Rohit Varma told the gathering of scores of medical scholars and graduate students at the Keck School of Medicine in Boyle Heights, who were summoned to a town-hall-type meeting to discuss The Times’ article about Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito. The newspaper obtained a recording of the meeting.
“He’s a man who had a brilliant career, all gone down the drain,” Varma said. “I’m standing in this place where my predecessor now has this taint. ... It is sad.”
He also said Puliafito, who stepped down as dean last year, had sought treatment in the past for alcoholism, but that the allegations in the article that he used drugs “came as a complete shock to us.”
On Monday, when The Times’ lengthy investigation was published, USC announced that Puliafito, 66, had been placed on leave from his positions as a faculty member and Keck eye surgeon, and was no longer treating patients. The school has been struggling to contend with the fallout from the accounts that the renowned ophthalmologist, who headed the medical school for nearly a decade, led a second life involving meth and other drugs he used with a circle of much younger people.
At the meeting on the Keck campus, students — some wearing hospital scrubs — said university administrators should have known more about Puliafito’s troubling behavior, including reports that he appeared drunk or otherwise intoxicated at campus events. One woman said that it “seems shocking that no one has been able to figure anything out in the last 10 years. ... People are now going to be questioning our professionalism.”
Letter to USC faculty from Provist Michael Quick about Carmen Puliafito
Another student said, “It’s pretty unfathomable to believe there was … no one in the loop and that no one had any idea and that everyone is completely blindsided. … We want to be assured that there will be people held accountable that this was allowed to take place.”
Puliafito resigned his $1.1-million-a-year dean’s post in March 2016, in the middle of the spring term, saying he wanted to explore outside opportunities.
He did not mention that three weeks earlier, a 21-year-old woman had overdosed in his presence in a Pasadena hotel room. The woman was rushed to a hospital, where she recovered. Police found methamphetamine in the hotel room, according to a police report, but made no arrests.
A tip about the episode prompted The Times to investigate. The newspaper interviewed six people who said they partied and used drugs with Puliafito in Pasadena, Huntington Beach and Las Vegas, as well as at USC. They ranged in age from the late teens to late 30s. None were USC students.
Members of the group captured their exploits in photos and videos shot in 2015 and 2016.
In one video, a tuxedo-clad Puliafito displays an orange pill on his tongue and says into the camera, “Thought I’d take an ecstasy before the ball.” Then he swallows the pill.
In another, Puliafito uses a butane torch to heat a large glass pipe outfitted for methamphetamine use. He inhales and then unleashes a thick plume of white smoke. Seated next to him on a sofa, a young woman appears to smoke heroin from a piece of heated foil.
Near the end of his remarks Wednesday, Varma said he had recently spoken with Puliafito, and he asked those present in the auditorium not to share with others the “personal interaction” he had with the former dean.
An overdose, a young companion, drug-fueled parties: The secret life of USC med school dean »
“He called me yesterday and he apologized for what had happened and for putting me and the school and SC through what has happened, and he informed me that he’s going to go and get help.”
USC has declined to say when it first learned about Puliafito’s alleged conduct or how it responded. Varma said at Wednesday’s meeting that USC Provost Michael Quick told him that Puliafito had resigned because “he cannot continue his activities here anymore as dean.”
Varma said Quick provided no other information about the resignation. “That is what was communicated to me,” he said. “There were no other additional aspects.”
Three days later after the overdose, a witness to the incidents phoned the office of USC President C.L. Max Nikias and told two employees about Puliafito’s role. The witness spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity.
Phone records confirm that the witness made a six-minute call to Nikias’ office on March 14, 2016, 10 days after the overdose.
A third student at Wednesday’s meeting said that if Nikias did receive the call, his handling of the affair needed further scrutiny.
“If this is true, if it turns out that it is a cultural problem with the university, with President Nikias, will you fight for President Nikias to be let go, so we can bring in another president who wouldn’t let this happen?” the student asked.
Varma told the students that university officials had not corroborated that the call had been placed. “There was no evidence particularly of that phone call,” he said. “There is a full-on series of investigations.”
Nikias did not respond to an interview request.
The Medical Board of California said Wednesday that it had opened an investigation into Puliafito.
In a statement Wednesday, USC said “we have multiple investigations ongoing, and much of this situation is complicated by confidentiality. The university also said that Varma held the meeting with “good intentions” but did not intend it as a public statement.
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Drugs, sex and a USC dean: What we do and don't know about Carmen Puliafito
Jul 19, 2017 | USA Today College
By Diana Kruzman
An investigation revealed that a former administrator at the University of Southern California used illicit drugs and partied with prostitutes, criminals and a minor while he was working for the university.
The investigation, by the Los Angeles Times, found that Dr. Carmen Puliafito, who served as the dean of the Keck School of Medicine for almost a decade, engaged in drug use during his tenure at USC — including in his office on campus.
Reporters from the Times reviewed videos and photos showing Puliafito smoking methamphetamine and taking ecstasy, and spoke to six people who partied with Puliafito in 2015 and 2016.
Their story sheds light on the double life of a renowned ophthalmologist and highly successful fundraiser for the university. But many questions remain unanswered, even after USC released an official response to the story. Here’s what we do and don’t know about Carmen Puliafito’s time at USC and the scandal around him now.PULIAFITO’S CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
We know that while at USC, Puliafito was a prolific fundraiser and well-regarded doctor. Under his leadership, the medical school rose seven spots in the U.S. News & World Report research rankings, and Puliafito estimated that he brought in $1 billion in donations for USC, according to the Times. Before coming to USC, Puliafito directed the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami, and he worked at Tufts University from 1991 to 2001. He graduated from Harvard Medical School and has received several prestigious awards for his work in ophthalmology.OVERDOSE AT A PASADENA HOTEL
We know that on March 4, 2016, Puliafito was present in a hotel room with 21-year-old Sarah Warren, who overdosed on what she said was the “date-rape drug” gamma-hydroxybutyrate and was sent to the hospital. In a recording of a 911 call made at the time, a man believed to be Puliafito identified himself as a doctor and said he thought his companion had drank too much alcohol.
We don’t know why a police report about the incident was not written at that time. William Boyer, a spokesman for the city of Pasadena, Calif. where the overdose in the hotel took place, says that when the police responded to the 911 call the officer did not immediately file a police report even though methamphetamine was found in the room. Boyer told USA TODAY College that a report should have been filed, but when the police department became aware of the responding officer’s failure to do so, they initiated an administrative review and made sure the officer “understood the rules.”DRUG USE AND TIES TO CRIMINALS
We know that Warren, who met Puliafito while working as a prostitute, used meth and heroin with him, as the Times saw from watching multiple videos of the two of them doing drugs. We also know that Warren introduced Puliafito to her 17-year-old brother Charles, who received prescriptions for asthma inhalers from Puliafito to soothe his lungs after smoking marijuana and meth.
We know that Puliafito engaged in drug use with individuals with criminal records, including convictions for drug possession. Some of their parties took place in the dean’s office on campus, according to photos the Times reviewed.
We don’t know when Puliafito first started using drugs, or how he obtained them. We also don’t know the extent of his involvement with Charles Warren’s methamphetamine use.TIMING OF PULIAFITO STEPPING DOWN
We know that a six-minute phone call from an anonymous witness who knew of Puliafito’s drug activity – who also alerted the Times and sparked the investigation – was made to the president of USC, C. L. Max Nikias, 10 days after the overdose, according to the Times.
We don’t know what this witness told USC, or whether the president himself knew of the accusations against Puliafito. “The university is not at liberty to discuss personnel matters, which by law are confidential,” USC spokesman Eddie North-Hager said in a statement. “If the assertions reported in the July 17 Los Angeles Times story are true, we hope that Carmen receives care and treatment that will lead him to a full recovery.”
We know Puliafito resigned from his position as dean in March 2016 – three weeks after the overdose and 10 days after the call to Nikias’ office — citing a desire to explore outside opportunities. A memo sent to students, staff and faculty at the time said he was “return[ing] to academic ophthalmology.” He was named chief of strategic development at the biopharmaceutical company Ophthotech a month later, but was laid off in December after a key drug failed clinical trials, the Times reported.
We don’t know whether any other factors contributed to his resignation, including the accusations made against him by the anonymous witness who contacted the president’s office.ONGOING RELATIONSHIP WITH USC
We don’t know whether he continued to see patients even after he resigned, or if the university knew about the accusations against him but continued to keep him on as an active doctor. He was listed as a doctor on the website of the USC Roski Eye Institute until the Los Angeles Times report came out, though now the site now states that he is no longer accepting patients. USC said in a statement that Puliafito is “is currently on leave from his roles at USC, including seeing patients.”
We know Puliafito was kept on the USC faculty even after he left the administration. He is still listed as a professor of ophthalmology on the Keck website.
We don’t know whether he continued to have contact with students. “Following Carmen Puliafito’s resignation as dean of the medical school in March 2016, he was on sabbatical from his faculty position,” the university said in a statement. A news release from April 2016 said he was “on leave” from his position as a professor.MEDICAL LICENSE
We know his medical license remains up-to-date and is not currently under review. Cassandra Hockenson, a spokeswoman for the Medical Board of California, told USA TODAY College she cannot comment on investigations or complaints but said that if an arrest was made, “we would be notified and take appropriate action.”
We don’t know what’s going to happen next. The university said it is “following all proper procedures to review [Puliafito’s] status in patient care.” But we don’t know if he’s going to remain on the faculty, whether any criminal charges will be filed or what he has been doing since he was laid off from Ophthotech in December 2016.
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Explosive exposé says former Tufts doctor led secret life
Jul 20, 2017 | Boston Globe
By Mark Shanahan
People on the Tufts University campus no doubt read with interest and more than a little alarm a lengthy piece in the Los Angeles Times about Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito, the founding director of the New England Eye Center at Tufts Medical School in the 1990s.
The story in the Times alleges that Puliafito (inset), who left Tufts in 2001, led a double life while serving as dean of the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. The paper claims that just three weeks prior to Puliafito’s abrupt resignation from USC in March 2016, a 21-year-old woman overdosed in his presence in a Pasadena hotel room. The woman, Sarah Warren, was rushed to a hospital and later recovered. Police were called, but no arrests were made.
Warren told the Times that she met Puliafito while working as a prostitute and said they became “constant companions” and often took drugs together. The paper interviewed a half-dozen people, ranging in age from late teens to late 30s, who said they used methamphetamine and other drugs with the 66-year-old Puliafito. Some in his circle of party acquaintances took photos and videos of their exploits, dozens of which were reviewed by the Times.
“[Puliafito] would say, ‘They love me around here. The medical students think I am God,’” Warren told the paper.
Neither Puliafito nor USC President C.L. Max Nikias or Provost Michael Quick would agree to talk to the Times.
At Tufts, Puliafito, who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School, was indeed a star. In 1993, the Globe profiled the doctor, characterizing him as mercurial, “simultaneously brilliant, boyish, moody, cheerful, engaging, brutally frank, entertaining, demanding, volatile and hard-nosed.
“He is more like one of those Yellowstone Park mud pots,” the Globe wrote. “Placid on the surface for a few minutes, then erupting for a moment, then calm again.”
Puliafito appears to have behaved himself while at Tufts, but, according to the Times, he had problems at his next stop: The University of Miami’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. There, the paper says, there were accusations of sexual harassment and, in 2006, a colleague sued him, claiming Pulfiato threw a “tantrum,” grabbed him by the collar of his lab coat, and choked him. The two sides reached a confidential settlement, according to the Times.
Contacted Wednesday, a Tufts spokesman said the school is aware of the Times story.
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Jul 19, 2017 | Independent Journal Review
By Victoria Taft
The successful and brilliant career of the head of the USC Medical School appears to have gone up in a cloud of smoke from a crackling meth pipe. That’s what the Los Angeles Timesreports about the former Dean of the Keck School of Medicine at USC.
The L.A. Times reports that after calling 911 for his ‘girlfriend’ when she overdosed on meth in a Pasadena motel room, reporters began chasing down leads about the secret life of renowned eye surgeon Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito:
Puliafito, 66, and these much younger acquaintances captured their exploits in photos and videos. The Times reviewed dozens of the images.
Shot in 2015 and 2016, they show Puliafito and the others partying in hotel rooms, cars, apartments and the dean’s office at USC.
In one video, a tuxedo-clad Puliafito displays an orange pill on his tongue and says into the camera, “Thought I’d take an ecstasy before the ball.” Then he swallows the pill.
In another, Puliafito uses a butane torch to heat a large glass pipe outfitted for methamphetamine use. He inhales and then unleashes a thick plume of white smoke. Seated next to him on a sofa, a young woman smokes heroin from a piece of heated foil.
The Times' investigation found that three weeks after making the 911 call, Puliafito resigned his $1.1 million position and went back to a faculty position and seeing patients. The Times reports that now he’s stopped seeing patients, according to the university.
The Times adds that the well-respected doctor hung out often with his long time ‘escort,’ Sarah Warren, and her drug addicted friends. He reportedly wrote prescriptions for inhalers for Warren and her 17-year-old brother to treat lung damage from marijuana and meth use:
Sarah and Charles Warren said Puliafito wrote them prescriptions for asthma inhalers to soothe lungs raw from smoking marijuana and methamphetamine. Charles Warren, now 19, provided The Times a copy of a CVS prescription history, dated Dec. 30, 2015, for an Advair inhaler that shows Puliafito as the prescribing physician and Charles Warren as the patient.
Puliafito was well known for his fundraising and hiring top flight researchers during his time at USC, Tufts University Medical School, and at the University of Miami.
USC President C.L. Max Nikias issued a statement wishing their colleague the best:
“Our university categorically condemns the unlawful possession, use, or distribution of drugs,. We are concerned about Dr. Puliafito and his family and hope that, if the article’s assertions are true, he receives the help and treatment he may need for a full recovery.”
The statement noted that people in high powered positions sometimes fall victim to drug use and stress and indicated that the medical school has a peer-to-peer counseling program.
The California State Medical Board may take up the issue, but its investigations are confidential.
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USC's Former Medical School Dean Allegedly Had a Secret Life
Jul 19, 2017 | Click Lancashire Independent News
By Joanna Estrada
The president of the University of Southern California says officials will "examine and address" a newspaper report that the recently resigned dean of the medical school abused drugs and associated with criminals.
The LA Times investigative report - published Monday - cited photos and videos of Dr. Puliafito using drugs like ecstasy and associating with criminals in 2015 and 2016, during his tenure as dean.
Shortly after the article appeared, the university announced that he was on leave from his faculty position and would not be seeing patients.
When he resigned, he was making $1.1 million and was considered a key fundraiser for the school, bringing in more than $1 billion, according to his estimations. Another video shows the former dean heating up a pipe outfitted for methamphetamine use. "They have the sole authority to decide whether and how much to investigate".
Puliafito, who is married with three children, was in a hotel room with a 21-year-old prostitute named Sarah Warren when the latter experienced a drug overdose, leading the disgraced dean to call 911. Warren said she and Puliafito had been partying for two days at that point and six hours later, when she woke up, "we went back to the hotel and got another room and continued the party".
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USC, Medical Board Respond To Firestorm Around Dean's Alleged Drug Abuse
Jul 19, 2017 | Hollywood Patch
By Paige Austin
USC officials on Wednesday acknowledged the scandal that rocked the school this week following a Los Angeles Times investigation into the former medical school dean's alleged drug abuse and association with criminals.
USC President C.L. Max Nikias pledged to "examine and address" the report, which centers on Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito's involvement in the overdose of a 22-year-old prostitute at Pasadena hotel days before he unexpectedly resigned in 2016. According to the report, a whistleblower contacted the newspaper out of concern that the Pasadena Police Department and USC officials were turning a blind eye to the renowned doctor's criminal behavior.
Nikias, speaking about the controversy for the first time in a letter to the campus community, said that "we understand the frustrations expressed about this situation" involving Puliafito, and "we are working to determine how we can best prevent these kinds of circumstances moving forward."
"Our university categorically condemns the unlawful possession, use, or distribution of drugs," Nikias said, The Times reported. "We are concerned about Dr. Puliafito and his family and hope that, if the article’s assertions are true, he receives the help and treatment he may need for a full recovery."
Puliafito, 66, a renowned eye surgeon, led the Keck School of Medicine for nearly a decade before resigning in 2016. He remained on the Keck faculty and continued to represent the university at public events as recently as Saturday.
On Monday, The Times published an article reporting that Puliafito, during his tenure as dean, kept company with a circle of criminals and addicts who said he used drugs with them. The article quotes an alleged drug dealer and former prostitute who say they partied with the dean almost every day occasionally on campus. The article also alleges that Puliafito was seen on several videos doing drugs with young people. The same day the article came out, USC said Puliafito was no longer seeing patients and was on leave.
Patch was unable to reach Puliafito for comment. According to the Los Angeles Times, the doctor hung up on the doctor when called for comment the newspaper.
Asked if the university had discussed the Puliafito case with the California State Medical Board, USC said reports by peer review organizations were confidential, The Times reported.
"We can confirm, however, that the California Medical Board is aware of the situation," USC said in a statement quoted by The Times. "They have the sole authority to decide whether and how much to investigate."
In California, the medical board initiates investigations of doctors after receiving a complaint. According to the board, cases are given higher priority if the complaint concerns physician impairment or poses immediate harm to patients.
Puliafito resigned his $1.1 million-a-year dean’s post in March 2016, saying he wanted to explore outside opportunities.
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USC'S Former Medical School Dean Allegedly Had A Secret Life
Jul 19, 2017 | Appsforpcdaily.com
By Carlton Cooper
Carmen Puliafito, MD, an ophthalmologist and former dean of Los Angeles-based USC Keck School of Medicine, is no longer treating patients after allegations of drug abuse and criminal association, according to the Los Angeles Times. During his almost 10 years at the university, he has been a key fundraiser, bringing in an estimated $1 billion in donations to USC.
"Thought I'd take an ecstasy before the ball", Puliafito, wearing a tuxedo, says in one video before swallowing an orange pill on his tongue, the newspaper reported. He also wrote tha drug use in not uncommon and "impacts individuals at all levels of society".
The university, however, did not say when it first learned of Puliafito's conduct or how it responded.
Nikias added: "We understand the frustrations expressed about this situation, and we want to assure our community that we are taking all the proper steps to examine and address it".
Puliafito, who is married with three children, was in a hotel room with a 21-year-old prostitute named Sarah Warren when the latter experienced a drug overdose, leading the disgraced dean to call 911.
Warren recovered from the overdose but police allegedly found meth in the optometrist's hotel room.
However, that event moved others to come forward, presenting their own drug-fueled tales featuring Puliafito, many with accompanying video, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
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Buffalo native at center of USC scandal
Jul 20, 2017 | Leicester Post
By Orlando Rodriguez
An article in The Los Angeles Times reported that Puliafito, prior to resigning as dean previous year, had been spending much time with drug-users and criminals, had used methamphetamine and other illegal drugs, and had been photographed doing so in numerous locations, including his office at USC.
"These allegations, if they are true, they are awful and despicable", Dr. Rohit Varma told the gathering of scores of medical scholars and graduate students at the Keck School of Medicine in Boyle Heights, who were summoned to a town-hall-type meeting to discuss The Times' article about Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito.
Following his resignation, Puliafito remained on the USC faculty and has continued to represent the university at public events.
When he resigned, he was making $1.1 million and was considered a key fundraiser for the school, bringing in more than $1 billion, according to his estimations.
However, the day of the USC statement on Tuesday, he was no longer seeing patients and was on leave, according to the Times. He also wrote tha drug use in not uncommon and "impacts individuals at all levels of society". "If the assertions reported in the July 17 Los Angeles Times story are true, we hope that Carmen receives care and treatment that will lead him to a full recovery".
The university, however, did not say when it first learned of Puliafito's conduct or how it responded.
The California State Medical Board may take up the issue, but its investigations are confidential. "They have the sole authority to decide whether and how much to investigate".
Photos and videos of the 66-year-old reviewed by the Los Angeles Times showed Puliafito and others partying in hotel rooms, cars - and even the dean's office - with his acquaintances.
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