The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health laid off 60 employees from its nationally recognized eye research center after learning the facility had accumulated $4.6 million in debt, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
The future is uncertain for the Fundus Photograph Reading Center, which informed staff of the layoffs at a meeting Oct. 14. Four of the 60 employees either retired or were reallocated, according to the State Journal.
The Fundus Center was established in 1972 and assists in research trials of treatments for retinal diseases.
The State Journal reported details were limited about what caused the problems at the previously successful research center, which is a subset of the UW-Madison ophthalmology department. The center has historically relied on research dollars from pharmaceutical companies and government agencies focused on clinical trials to test new treatments for retinal diseases.
Media Relations Director for UW Health Lisa Brunette told the State Journal the shortages grew because of contract losses that resulted in decreases to the funding stream. The center currently has 23 active studies underway and its lease in a Far West Side office park does not terminate until January 2015.
Medical school Dean Robert Golden said in a video recording of a meeting Oct.21 with laid-off employees that he was unaware of the severity of funding problems at the center until recently. He also said the Fundus Center is responsible for managing its budget, as are other campus units.
“It’s basically analogous to whoever was the credit card holder of the Fundus Center overspent, overspent, overspent (and) accumulated such a deficit that it finally, later than it should have, came to our attention,” Golden said in the video recording. “I’m profoundly disappointed in those individuals who knew this was happening and didn’t bring it to our attention sooner.”
