Scott Rivkees, former Florida Surgeon General, leaving the University of Florida
Dr. Scott Rivkees, the embattled former Florida surgeon general who was kept out of the public eye for more than a year of the COVID-19 pandemic for recommending people wear masks until a vaccine was developed, is leaving the University of Florida.
Rivkees, who also has been a professor of pediatrics at the UF College of Medicine, told the school on Oct. 15 that he was resigning his post effective Jan. 31, 2022, UF Health spokesman Ken Garcia confirmed in an email.
The development comes a little over four months after he stepped down as surgeon general and head of the Florida Department of Health Sept. 20. The next day, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his successor, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, an associate research professor from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine who had just been hired by the UF College of Medicine.
Back story:
Rivkees also put his historic Duck Pond house in Gainesville up for sale recently for $629,000 and already has it under contract. Known as the Pepper House, the five-bedroom, 3.5 bath house across from the Thomas Center was part of the dairy barn of the Thomas family farm and was once home to former Gainesville Sun publisher William Pepper.
Rivkees did not respond to requests for comment via email or phone call, and could not be reached at his home address. He is named in several lawsuits challenging orders related to COVID-19, and both parties are sparring over whether he must testify, and what topics a “corporate” representative for DOH would have to testify to.
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Rivkees' controversial tenure as Surgeon General
A graduate of Rutgers University and the former University of Medicine and Dentistry, both in New Jersey, Rivkees was a tenured professor at Yale and associate chair for research before joining the faculty at UF in 2012.
By the time he accepted the position of surgeon general in April 2019, Rivkees was chair of the pediatrics department at the UF College of Medicine and physician-in-chief of UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital.
The selection of Rivkees drew immediate criticism because of a 2014 harassment complaint, first reported by the News Service of Florida, which delayed a vote on his confirmation by a year when then-Senate President Bill Galvano said the allegations were serious enough to look into. Rivkees' attorney said he acknowledged making inappropriate comments and had “moved on” from the incident, according to reports.
By the time the Senate confirmed Rivkees by a 31-9 vote on March 13, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had hit Florida and Rivkees had been on the job for a year.
Under the terms of the contract — signed June 19 and June 20, 2019 — the state paid UF $35,000 a quarter, or $140,000 a year, for Rivkees' time and services while he retained full professor status and salary at UF. His UF salary at the start of the contract was nearly $547,000 a year, but records show his salary for 2020-21 was reduced to $242,721 a year.
When he returned to UF in September his salary was around $240,000 a year.
State law allows an "employee interchange agreement" between state agencies for up to two years, with a three-month extension if agreed upon by all parties involved. Ladapo has dual appointments under the same agreement, and is expected to spend 80% of his time running the Department of Health and 20% at UF for a combined salary of $437,000 a year.
Rivkees' public appearances started becoming less frequent in April 2020. That was when he was walked out of a news briefing in the Florida Capitol after he said people would have to continue social distancing until a vaccine could be approved.
"So as long as we're going to have COVID in the environment, and this is a tough virus, we're going to have to practice these measures so that we are all protected," Rivkees said, adding it could be a year or more before a vaccine was available.
Helen Aguirre Ferre, then the governor's communications director, walked over to Rivkees and whispered in his ear. Rivkees said "OK" before Ferre escorted him out.
While Rivkees has made few public appearances since then, he has signed several orders in response to the pandemic.
One of those orders incurred the wrath of a group of retired pediatricians who published an op-ed piece calling for his resignation even after praising his 33-year career and research for the National Institutes of Health.
They wondered why Rivkees was not holding town hall meetings in communities with low vaccination rates to get people to overcome their vaccine hesitancy.
They also criticized him for not advocating the position of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that schools require all staff and students over the age of 2 to wear a mask unless they have a medical or developmental reason not to wear one.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Scott Rivkees, former Florida Surgeon General replaced by Ladapo, leaving UF
