Philadelphia Inquirer (Pennsylvania), June 27, 2007, Wednesday

Copyright 2007 Philadelphia Inquirer

Philadelphia Inquirer (Pennsylvania)

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News

June 27, 2007 Wednesday

SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL NEWS

HEADLINE: UMDNJ scandal fallout worries students: They fear their medical careers may be hurt. Recruiters say the damage will be minimal

BYLINE: Samuel Dangremond, The Philadelphia Inquirer

BODY:

Jun. 27--Dana Crum should be focusing on her research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, but lately all the fourth-year medical student can think about is losing her mentor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

The unexpected ousting earlier this month of Paul Mehne, dean of the school's Camden campus, shocked students. But it was just the latest shake-up at UMDNJ.

The problems started in 2005, when U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie accused the school of Medicaid fraud. To avoid prosecution, UMDNJ agreed in December that year to have a monitor appointed by Christie delve into university finances and practices.

The monitor, former federal Judge Herbert Stern, has since released a series of reports criticizing UMDNJ officials for infractions including abusing their expense accounts, doctoring financial records, and steering contracts to friends.

Some students, including Crum, worried that the problems would have an effect on their residency program prospects after medical school. Their concerns only intensified with the unexpected departure of Mehne, an associate dean of academic and student affairs.

Crum, who will graduate from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at UMDNJ next year, said the possibility of having someone other than Mehne write her dean's letter would be seriously damaging to her residency prospects.

"I'm about as worried as you can get," she said.

Mehne, 59, who gave out his home and cell-phone numbers to all students under his supervision, was accessible and knew them all personally, she said.

"A dean's letter is just as important as your grades [and] your test scores," Crum said. "There's no way that someone [else] could possibly know us like Dean Mehne does."

Medical students at the Robert Wood Johnson school spend their first two years at its Piscataway campus and then have the option of switching to the Camden campus for their last two years. About one-third of the class, or 50 students, move to Camden, where Mehne was the senior administrator.

Huda Sayed, who started her third year of medical school in Camden on Monday, said Mehne was one of the main reasons she switched campuses.

"I feel like I was robbed of a wonderful mentor and a great educator," she said. "Unlike others that came before me, I will never get a chance to have a full grasp of what made [the] Camden campus so unique."

Before Mehne's departure, some students felt removed from the school's problems.

"I didn't feel affected by the other scandals whatsoever," Crum said. "This one hit us the hardest."

Oluseun Olufade, president of the Camden class of 2007, and now a resident physician at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, said he was asked about the school's past in a residency interview.

"The question [about UMDNJ's scandals] was asked and I kind of brushed it off," Olufade said. He added that he thought the question arose simply because the residency director was curious about the scandal, not because he was critical of UMDNJ students caught in the middle of something beyond their control.

Although students might be worried, one residency program administrator said they would not be judged differently from in the past.

Barbara Weinraub, residency coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, said UMDNJ's problems would not affect students' chances of securing a residency through Penn's program.

"I don't think they have anything to worry about . . . the students are going to be fine," she said.

Ronald Ehrenberg, who heads the Higher Education Research Institute at Cornell University, agreed.

These incidents are not a "reflection on the quality of education that the medical students are receiving" and do not reflect "the quality of the students," he said.

Ehrenberg added that the school's reputation, though perhaps slightly damaged at the moment, would not be tarnished in the long run.

The problems will be associated "with problems of the current leadership, not with the institution as a whole," he said.

UMDNJ insists that Mehne's departure will not affect the quality of education students receive, according to spokeswoman Anna Farneski.

Peter Amenta, interim dean of the medical school, "has already taken aggressive action to ensure that the educational program continues undisturbed," she said.

Officials, meanwhile, have not released details of the allegations surrounding Mehne's departure.

John Inglesino, a lawyer working with Stern, said his office was "investigating allegations of wrongdoing by Dean Mehne" on which they will report "in the near future."

Contact staff writer Samuel Dangremond at 856-779-3917 or sdangremond@phillynews.com

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