Dear MSK Colleagues,
After yesterday’s discussions with medical faculty and much thought around the feedback I received, I
wanted to alert you to additional actions that I am taking to build on the reforms we announced last week.
I’ve heard from a number of you that you’d like me to be even more present at MSK. I take that feedback
seriously and intend to lead by example. To that end, I am resigning from my positions as a member of
the Board of Directors of Merck and Charles River, effective immediately. I believe this is the right
decision for Memorial Sloan Kettering and will allow me to redouble my focus on MSK priorities: quality
patient care, faculty, scientists and staff.
Additionally, I wanted to announce a series of steps designed to further our institutional mission and
ensure we learn from recent events.
To start, as requested by faculty, we will be conducting a root cause analysis (RCA) of the issues that
have come to the fore in recent weeks so that we ensure our path forward is expertly guided by what we
learn. Medical professionals know that you don’t simply treat and remedy a condition, you work to
understand how it developed. The RCA will do that.
We will be taking several actions to ensure the perspective and voice of our clinicians is more deeply
reflected in institutional decision-making. To that end, we are appointing an elected medical staff
representative to the search committee to identity a new physician-in-chief. The experience and concerns
of our clinical staff, who are on the front line of patient care, are vital to ensuring we identify the best
candidate.
The MSK Board has also asked the elected president of the medical staff to play a formal role to the
Boards of Overseers and Managers, representing the interests of faculty at all regularly scheduled board
meetings. This will better inform policy that impacts our faculty and patient care.
Lastly, we are developing a formalized council of department chairs to serve as an advisory committee to
the physician-in-chief and provide critical insight into issues that staff face every day.
As I made clear last week, we are taking actions to enhance communication, transparency, disclosure, and
oversight of outside activities, and are undertaking a full and deliberative review of our policies and
procedures related to conflicts of interest.
I deeply appreciate the continued feedback and constructive engagement we are receiving in this process.
It’s been invaluable as we move forward. But most importantly, I appreciate your deep faith in Memorial
Sloan Kettering and unwavering commitment to delivering exceptional care and developing the therapies
of tomorrow.
I look forward to continuing our dialogue.

All the best,
Craig Thompson, MD