Florida university turns on 'charlatan' DeSantis ally: report
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo also holds a side gig as a tenured professor at the University of Florida -- but a new report from Politico suggests he's done little at the university to earn his hefty $262,000 annual salary there.
In dozens of interviews, Politico found deep concern among both faculty at the university and some Florida state lawmakers that Ladapo was given a sweetheart appointment with little scrutiny that has allowed him to rake in money despite apparently doing little work.
"Professors had anticipated Ladapo would bring at least $600,000 in grant funding to his new appointment from his previous job at UCLA," the publication writes. "That didn’t happen. They expected he would conduct research on internal medicine, as directed by his job letter. Instead, he edited science research manuscripts, gave a guest lecture for grad students and wrote a memoir about his vaccine skepticism."
Democratic Florida State Sen. Tina Polsky told Politico that when she tried to question Ladapo about his work at the university, he offered up "word salad answers for everything," which she described as "really frustrating."
"This guy is a charlatan," she said of Ladapo. "He’s not looking out for anyone’s health and he’s going to campaign with DeSantis."
An unnamed University of Florida professor, meanwhile, trashed Ladapo in an interview with Politico.
“Dr. Ladapo has undoubtedly sullied the academic reputation of the University,” the professor told the publication. “He continues to detract from the incredible science and outstanding clinical work being done by real UF scientists and clinicians.”
Ladapo has long been a controversial public health figure due to his skepticism of COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, as well as his attacks on measures taken during the pandemic aimed at slowing down the spread of the virus.