A 15-member external advisory board for the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., resigned following the unexpected removal of the center's director, the Winston-Salem Journal reported March 6.
The former director of the cancer center, Boris Pasche, MD, PhD, was removed from the position on Feb. 10 and William Blackstock, MD, was appointed as interim director.
According to the report, the advisory board wrote a letter dated Feb. 18 to the system's leaders explaining the reason for its resignation, but board chairman Gerald Bepler, MD, did not respond to questions about the letter. The board also withdrew "its endorsement for submission of the competitive renewal of the Cancer Center Support Grant" from the National Cancer Institute in the letter.
Editor's note: Becker's reached out. to Atrium Health for comment and will update the report as more information becomes available.