Making for another possible scandal at the University of Louisville, the FBI and university police are investigating whether its top health executive and two other officials misused federal grant money for non-university purposes.
Sources familiar with the investigation say its targets are Dr. David Dunn, the university’s executive vice president for health affairs, and Dr. Russell Bessette, who was the associate vice president under Dunn until he left the university for unknown reasons.
The sources say a third subject is the university’s chief information officer, Priscilla Hancock, 59.
In a brief interview at his home in Oldham County, Bessette declined to comment or say why he left U of L. He referred questions to his lawyer, Scott C. Cox, who declined to comment. Dunn and Hancock didn’t respond to messages.
THE COURIER-JOURNAL
U of L alumni director resigns
Responding to questions from The Courier-Journal, the university acknowledged in a statement Tuesday afternoon that it was notified of "allegations of potential misconduct" in the summer of 2014. It said that U of L police began a review that federal authorities joined this year, after the university notified the U.S. Attorney's office. The statement said that the university had been asked not to disclose the inquiry in order to protect its confidentiality.
A spokesman for the FBI, Special Agent David Habich, said the agency neither confirms nor denies investigations.
Dunn is paid $809,024 a year and Hancock $323,925, according to the university. Bessette was paid $323,400 in 2014.
Dunn, 63, and Bessette, 73, were colleagues at State University of New York in Buffalo, where they founded a company called Health DataStream, which they later operated at U of L.
The company is defunct, according to state corporate records, which showed it was based at U of L’s Abell Administration Center, which also is home to Dunn’s university office.
In a lawsuit that he later agreed to dismiss, Bessette in 2013 sued SUNY Buffalo for misappropriating intellectual property called “Q SCORES” that he said he developed to provide a “mathematical system that objectively measures a patient’s changing health status over time and a ‘return on investment’ for that patient’s health care.”
It is not clear if the investigation involves the former company.
Bessette and Hancock presented a paper together in Athens in 2013 on using “virtual dashboards” to display blood metrics and health care analytics.
U of L has been rocked by theft, embezzlement and other scandals in recent years, as well as recent allegations that a university employee supplied escorts to basketball players and recruits. Another scandal was triggered when President James Ramsey and his staff dressed in stereotypical Mexican costumes at a party at the president’s mansion.
In the series of embezzlement, from 2008 through 2014, authorities alleged that U of L employees stole, misspent or mishandled at least $7.6 million at the College of Education, the health science campus, the law school, the business school and the athletic department's ticket office.
THE COURIER-JOURNAL
U of L employees accused of stealing funds
The string of offenses began when Education Dean Robert Felner was accused of defrauding U of L and another university of $2.3 million. He pleaded guilty to nine federal charges, including income tax evasion, and served 63 months in prison. Last year, U of L announced it was adopting accounting and other reforms recommended in an audit to tighten financial controls.
Ramsey also has been criticized for his lucrative compensation after The Courier-Journal reported this year that he and his two top aides were paid millions of dollars in deferred compensation and that he was paid two-and-a-half times more than the average of the Atlantic Coast Conference's other 14 presidents and chancellors — all of whose universities are ranked far higher academically than U of L.
Some faculty also complained after disclosures that the university foundation had paid a full year's salary to outgoing vice presidents Michael Curtin ($252,350) and Larry Owsley ($248,255) and to the assistant to the president, Vivian Hibbs ($66,391), in part to induce them not to "disparage, demean or impugn the university or its senior leadership," and paid another $346,844 to its top lawyer, Angela Koshewa, to induce her to resign without suing the university.
Dunn, who was hired at U of L in 2011, previously held a similar position at Buffalo, where he also was professor of surgery, microbiology and immunology. Before that he was chairman of surgery at the University of Minnesota.
Bessette, who trained as a plastic surgeon, says on his LinkedIn page that he currently is publishing the Bessette Report, a blog on health care management, academics, public policy and medical research.
Before he came to Louisville, he was the former associate vice president for health sciences and director of health information technology at Buffalo, and a former executive director of the New York State Agency for Science Technology & Academic Research.
Hancock was chief information officer at University of Alabama for 15 years before she came to Louisville in the same position.
In February she applied for the same position at Washington State University, according to a letter she sent to a headhunter that is still posted online. “The position description caught my attention because you are looking for a transformative leader,” her letter said. “I am a transformative leader.”
THE COURIER-JOURNAL
Ramsey champions diversity at campus meeting
Announcing Bessette’s hiring at U of L in 2013, Dunn said in a statement that his experience in strategic planning and use of bioinformatics would help enhance the quality of health care “as we face a tumultuous time in health care and academic medicine.”
The Courier-Journal reported last year that Dunn brought another former Buffalo colleague to Louisville, Scott Nostaja, whose consulting firm eventually won $1.1 million in U of L contracts — virtually all without bids — to evaluate and reorganize the university. Some U of L faculty, including department chairs, criticized the quality of Nostaja’s reports and questioned why a consultant was selected who has no advanced degree or academic credentials.
The university defended his reports and his contracts.
Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at (502) 582-7189 or at awolfson@courier-journal.com
925CONNECTTWEET 2LINKEDIN 13COMMENTEMAILMORE
Sources familiar with the investigation say its targets are Dr. David Dunn, the university’s executive vice president for health affairs, and Dr. Russell Bessette, who was the associate vice president under Dunn until he left the university for unknown reasons.
The sources say a third subject is the university’s chief information officer, Priscilla Hancock, 59.
In a brief interview at his home in Oldham County, Bessette declined to comment or say why he left U of L. He referred questions to his lawyer, Scott C. Cox, who declined to comment. Dunn and Hancock didn’t respond to messages.
THE COURIER-JOURNAL
U of L alumni director resigns
Responding to questions from The Courier-Journal, the university acknowledged in a statement Tuesday afternoon that it was notified of "allegations of potential misconduct" in the summer of 2014. It said that U of L police began a review that federal authorities joined this year, after the university notified the U.S. Attorney's office. The statement said that the university had been asked not to disclose the inquiry in order to protect its confidentiality.
A spokesman for the FBI, Special Agent David Habich, said the agency neither confirms nor denies investigations.
Dunn is paid $809,024 a year and Hancock $323,925, according to the university. Bessette was paid $323,400 in 2014.
Dunn, 63, and Bessette, 73, were colleagues at State University of New York in Buffalo, where they founded a company called Health DataStream, which they later operated at U of L.
The company is defunct, according to state corporate records, which showed it was based at U of L’s Abell Administration Center, which also is home to Dunn’s university office.
In a lawsuit that he later agreed to dismiss, Bessette in 2013 sued SUNY Buffalo for misappropriating intellectual property called “Q SCORES” that he said he developed to provide a “mathematical system that objectively measures a patient’s changing health status over time and a ‘return on investment’ for that patient’s health care.”
It is not clear if the investigation involves the former company.
Bessette and Hancock presented a paper together in Athens in 2013 on using “virtual dashboards” to display blood metrics and health care analytics.
U of L has been rocked by theft, embezzlement and other scandals in recent years, as well as recent allegations that a university employee supplied escorts to basketball players and recruits. Another scandal was triggered when President James Ramsey and his staff dressed in stereotypical Mexican costumes at a party at the president’s mansion.
In the series of embezzlement, from 2008 through 2014, authorities alleged that U of L employees stole, misspent or mishandled at least $7.6 million at the College of Education, the health science campus, the law school, the business school and the athletic department's ticket office.
THE COURIER-JOURNAL
U of L employees accused of stealing funds
The string of offenses began when Education Dean Robert Felner was accused of defrauding U of L and another university of $2.3 million. He pleaded guilty to nine federal charges, including income tax evasion, and served 63 months in prison. Last year, U of L announced it was adopting accounting and other reforms recommended in an audit to tighten financial controls.
Ramsey also has been criticized for his lucrative compensation after The Courier-Journal reported this year that he and his two top aides were paid millions of dollars in deferred compensation and that he was paid two-and-a-half times more than the average of the Atlantic Coast Conference's other 14 presidents and chancellors — all of whose universities are ranked far higher academically than U of L.
Some faculty also complained after disclosures that the university foundation had paid a full year's salary to outgoing vice presidents Michael Curtin ($252,350) and Larry Owsley ($248,255) and to the assistant to the president, Vivian Hibbs ($66,391), in part to induce them not to "disparage, demean or impugn the university or its senior leadership," and paid another $346,844 to its top lawyer, Angela Koshewa, to induce her to resign without suing the university.
Dunn, who was hired at U of L in 2011, previously held a similar position at Buffalo, where he also was professor of surgery, microbiology and immunology. Before that he was chairman of surgery at the University of Minnesota.
Bessette, who trained as a plastic surgeon, says on his LinkedIn page that he currently is publishing the Bessette Report, a blog on health care management, academics, public policy and medical research.
Before he came to Louisville, he was the former associate vice president for health sciences and director of health information technology at Buffalo, and a former executive director of the New York State Agency for Science Technology & Academic Research.
Hancock was chief information officer at University of Alabama for 15 years before she came to Louisville in the same position.
In February she applied for the same position at Washington State University, according to a letter she sent to a headhunter that is still posted online. “The position description caught my attention because you are looking for a transformative leader,” her letter said. “I am a transformative leader.”
THE COURIER-JOURNAL
Ramsey champions diversity at campus meeting
Announcing Bessette’s hiring at U of L in 2013, Dunn said in a statement that his experience in strategic planning and use of bioinformatics would help enhance the quality of health care “as we face a tumultuous time in health care and academic medicine.”
The Courier-Journal reported last year that Dunn brought another former Buffalo colleague to Louisville, Scott Nostaja, whose consulting firm eventually won $1.1 million in U of L contracts — virtually all without bids — to evaluate and reorganize the university. Some U of L faculty, including department chairs, criticized the quality of Nostaja’s reports and questioned why a consultant was selected who has no advanced degree or academic credentials.
The university defended his reports and his contracts.
Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at (502) 582-7189 or at awolfson@courier-journal.com
925CONNECTTWEET 2LINKEDIN 13COMMENTEMAILMORE
