The former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), David Aaron Kessler, has been fired from his post as dean and vice chancellor at the University of California, San Francisco Medical School. Kessler issued a statement which alleges he was punished by the university for being a whistleblower on a series of financial irregularities.

Kessler, a pediatrician and lawyer, was asked to resign in June and to keep his concerns about the financial matters of the UCSF Medical School private. However, he refused and was thus fired a day before yesterday. UCSF Chancellor Dr. J. Michael Bishop announced he had appointed Dr. Sam Hawgood as interim dean.

"Shortly after arriving at UCSF as Dean, I discovered a series of financial irregularities that predated my appointment. I reported these issues to appropriate university officials at the time [...] The university characterized me as a whistleblower," Kessler said in his good-bye statement.

Kessler was appointed Dean in 2003 and reported the issues in the spring of 2005.

"Over the course of the past four years, it has been my pleasure and honor to work with the outstanding faculty, staff, students and donors of this remarkable school and institution. I want to thank all of you for the opportunity to foster and nurture outstanding programs on behalf of UCSF," he said.

Davin Kessler was earning around $540,000-a-year. Bloomberg reports that he claims that administrative funds for his office were set to reach $71.8 million for 2007-2008, but the audit later showed the discretionary spending fund to be $31.9 million in debt, a $103.7 million difference.

Kessler was a very prominent FDA Chair. Even though he was appointed by President George H. W. Bush in 1990, he became more popular with Democrats due to his very efficient work with the food and drug regulator. He was also named by some Republicans a "Bush backstabber." As a result, Kessler remained as FDA Commissioner during the administration of Bill Clinton.

When he left the FDA, Kessler was Dean for the Yale School of Medicine, between 1997-2003. Subsequently, he moved to California and was appointed dean and vice chancellor at the University of California, San Francisco Medical School.