Newly Elected President Of Institute of Medication Is On The Pepsico Board Of Directors

A group of Duke students protested the excessive compensation provided to some best Duke officials, including cardiologist Victor Dzau, who is the Chancellor for Well being Affairs at the University. In response to the protest, one mentioned advocate for overall health care reform says that Dzau has enriched himself even even more through support on four separate corporate boards, and that Dzau or Duke has been much less than forthcoming about completely disclosing Dzau’s board memberships.

The protesters took issue with Dzau’s total compensation for 2009 of more than $ two.2 million. The figure appears excessive, especially in the context of latest monetary difficulties at Duke, resulting in “frozen pay and eliminated jobs,” in accordance to newsobserver.com.

But Dzau’s compensation at Duke is far from uncommon, according to Roy Poses, creating  on Health Care Renewal. He notes that compensation for “leaders of not-for-profit organizations, which includes academic institutions, is now frequently in the millions per 12 months selection.”

But what is striking in this situation, in accordance to Poses, is the large sums of funds Dzau receives from sources outside of Duke. In particular, Dzau serves on many corporate boards, Alynlam Pharmaceuticals, Genzyme, Medtronic, and PepsiCo, even though his biography on the Duke website lists only his Genzyme affiliation.

Right here are the specifics of Dzau’s corporate compensation for 2009, as reported by Poses:

• In accordance to the Alnylam Pharmaceuticals 2010 Proxy Statement, Dr Dzau’s compensation as a director in 2009 was $ 234,433.  In 2009, Dr Dzau owned the equivalent of 45,000 shares, well worth $ 424,800 at today’s $ 9.44 price per share.


• According to the Genzyme 2010 Proxy Statement, Dr Dzau’s compensation as a director in 2009 was $ 412,942.  In 2009, Dr Dzau owned the equivalent of 75,137 shares, well worth $ five,312,937 at today’s $ 70.71 price tag per share.


• According to the Medtronic 2010 Proxy Statement, Dr Dzau’s compensation as a director in 2009 was $ 173,698.  In 2009, Dr Dzau owned the equivalent of 14,552 shares, worth $ 493,895 at today’s $ 33.94 value.


• In accordance to the PepsiCo 2010 Proxy Statement, Dr Dzau’s compensation as a director in 2009 was $ 260,000.  In 2009, Dr Dzau owned the equivalent of 25,065 shares, worth $ 1,622,458 at today’s $ 64.73 value per share.


• So, in summary, in 2009, Dr Dzau received  $ 1,081,073 in compensation to be a director of these four companies.  In 2009, Dr Dzau owned stock or equivalent in these 4 firms valued at $ seven,854,090.  He has turn out to be what most individuals would take into account rich just from his work on these boards, in addition to the hundreds of thousands he has acquired from Duke.

Poses raises numerous critical queries about these problems, but focuses on the conflict of interest angle. He asks why Duke doesn’t totally disclose all of Dzau’s relationships and observes that all these firms signify “severe conflicts of interest” for Dzau:

Dr Dzau’s service on the board of each of these businesses implies he has fiduciary duties to every single business, and is supposed to show unyielding loyalty to the companies’ stockholders…. Even in the ideal case, showing unyielding loyalties to the stockholders of companies that make medication, medical units, and sugary drinks appears to be likely to influence a leader of an academic medical institution in ways that chance degrading the leader’s responsibilities to uphold the institution’s mission, i.e., to create significant conflicts of curiosity.

Poses then asks what is Dzau’s degree of responsibility for some of the troubling, properly publicized episodes that have plagued Genzyme and Medtronic in latest years. He points out, for instance:

Medtronic has been the source of several alleged conflicts of interest involving influential doctors. (see posts about Medtronic here).   Possibly someone could ask Dr Dzau what he imagined about such actions, and whether he would get any obligation for them.

Remarkably, Poses does not focus on Dzau’s involvement with PepsiCo, which strikes me as the most troubling of all. As a prominent and influential health care leader, how could Dzau treat a tax on soda, or a ban on vending machines in schools, or any of a multitude ofother well being policy problems relating to the weight problems and diabetes epidemic? In addition, might Dzau’s involvement with PepsiCo (and the other companies) make a chilling effect on the free speech and activities of Duke faculty and affiliated medical professionals?

Newly Elected President Of Institute of Medication Is On The Pepsico Board Of Directors