When Florida Republicans made Dr. Joseph Ladapo the state’s surgeon general three years ago, the physician took on a multifaceted position. Indeed, Ladapo wouldn’t just serve as Florida’s surgeon general, he was also tasked with leading the state’s Department of Health, while simultaneously receiving a tenured faculty position at the University of Florida.
How’s that working out? The Alligator, the university’s student-run newspaper, reported this week on the controversial doctor’s tenure.
Ladapo’s work calendar shows monthslong stretches with little or no activity. Instead of attaining grants and conducting research, he spent his first year revising manuscripts and writing his memoir, ‘Transcend Fear,’ which details his skepticism of vaccines. He also promised to bring hundreds of thousands in research dollars from the University of California at Los Angeles, his previous employer. That never happened. … A review of internal reports and public directories indicate Ladapo hasn’t secured any research grants for UF.
The same report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, added that Lapado’s classroom contributions have been “sparse”; one of his proposed courses “has yet to materialize”; and there’s “little evidence” that the internal medicine program he was supposed to lead has done meaningful work.
“Although UF leaders initially welcomed Ladapo, issues with absenteeism, funding shortfalls and clashes with colleagues quickly emerged,” the article added. (Ladapo and university representatives didn’t respond to The Alligator’s requests for comment.)
Officials can’t say they weren’t warned.
Revisiting our earlier coverage, Ladapo’s former supervisor at UCLA discouraged Florida officials from hiring the controversial doctor, saying that Ladapo relied on his opinions more than scientific evidence. The UCLA supervisor added that Ladapo’s weird theories “created a stressful environment for his research and clinical colleagues and subordinates,” some of whom believed the doctor “violated the duty in the Hippocratic Oath to behave honestly and ethically.”
It was not the first time Ladapo’s work at UCLA generated scrutiny. It was during his tenure in California when the physician also claimed in a USA Today op-ed that his perspective on Covid treatments had been shaped by his experience “taking care of patients with COVID-19 at UCLA’s flagship hospital.” Two weeks later, Ladapo added in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that he had his experience “caring for patients with suspected or diagnosed Covid-19 infections at UCLA.”
The Rachel Maddow Show’s reporting later called those claims into question. As my colleague Kay Guerrero explained in a report, “Several former colleagues of Dr. Joseph Ladapo … say he misled the public about his experience treating Covid-19 patients.”
One UCLA source also said, in reference to Ladapo, “A lot of people here at UCLA are glad that he is gone because we were embarrassed by his opinions and behavior. At the same time, we don’t wish this on the people of Florida. They don’t deserve to have someone like him making their health decisions.” A Florida Department of Law Enforcement report later told policymakers that Ladapo’s views led to “stress and acrimony among his coworkers and supervisors.” Soon after, the GOP-led legislature confirmed the physician anyway at the urging of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. While in office, Ladapo has made a wide variety of radical and potentially dangerous decisions, leading the editorial board of The Washington Post to conclude two years ago, “By playing loose with the facts, Dr. Ladapo … betrayed the trust of the people of Florida and the nation.” The University of Florida report, in other words, is striking — but not surprising. This report updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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