Kelley's future remains uncertain

Despite his ouster, experts say the former Health System chief will be highly sought after by companies and universities. While the dust has settled after Thursday's dismissal of William Kelley as the chief executive officer of the Health System and dean of the Medical School, the future of Penn's highest paid employee remains uncertain. Kelley, who spent the last decade building and expanding UPHS, was ousted from his position last week after University officials lost confidence in his ability to get the financially troubled system back on its feet. Over the past two years, the system had incurred almost $300 million in deficits. Kelley, 61, has not yet said whether he will remain at the University as executive vice president for health affairs -- a title offered to him by University President Judith Rodin last week. In an e-mail to colleagues, though, he indicated that he will remain at Penn as a tenured faculty member. Despite his dismissal, many in the health care industry say the growth in both size and reputation that the Health System experienced during Kelley's tenure will make him attractive to potential employers in academia or private research. "He is going to go wherever he wants to go," said David Shulkin, the former chief medical officer at the UPHS under Kelley. "If his passion is still academic medicine, I have no doubt he will continue with academic medicine." Duke University Health System CEO Ralph Snyderman agreed that Kelley will have many options. "I think he has a broad range of opportunities and he'll be a highly sought after individual," said Snyderman, who has known Kelley since 1972, when Snyderman worked in Duke's Department of Rheumatics and Genetics, which Kelley chaired. According to Snyderman, Kelley found professional success wherever he went, beginning with the University of Michigan, where he built the school's Department of Internal Medicine into a national powerhouse by recruiting outstanding faculty, including Francis Collins, who heads the Human Genome Project. Snyderman also credited Kelley with lifting Penn's Medical School from a "second tier" institution to its current No. 2 ranking in National Institutes of Health funding and No. 3 ranking in the U.S. News & World Report list of top U.S. medical schools. Shulkin, who left UPHS in October, is now the CEO of DoctorQuality.com, an Internet company devoted to issues of quality in healthcare. He praised Kelley as a capable and motivated leader. "When he's charging towards a goal, he is, in many ways, inspirational," Shulkin said. "I don't know too many people who wake up in the morning with the same amount of energy and drive as he has." There has also been speculation that Kelley might take a position at a private research company, like Merck Pharmaceutical and Health Care, where he sits on the Board of Directors. His term on the board is set to expire this year, making him eligible to be hired by the pharmaceutical giant. "He knows as much about genetics as probably anybody," Snyderman said. "His knowledge of that is very valuable and will be very valuable to many [corporations]." A Merck spokeswoman said it is against company policy to comment on candidates for employment. While Kelley may be highly sought after if he leaves Penn, some said his dismissal was not a surprise. "He did a lot of wonderful things for Penn," said Alan Zuckerman, a consultant with Healthcare Strategies and Solutions in Philadelphia. "But when you have an organization that loses a lot of money? there's often a change made." Zuckerman said he holds Kelley accountable for the Health System's financial woes. "He took a lot of risks on the financial side, and a lot of them didn't pan out," Zuckerman explained. One analyst said a major factor in Kelley's dismissal was that the Health System's financial situation led to a downgrading of the University's bond rating in October. "That plus the $198 million in losses [for FY 1999] doesn't reflect well on the U. or its Trustees," the analyst said. "Someone has to be held responsible for making the Trustees look bad."