MCO gives $141,954 in pay raises to specialists

The Medical College of Ohio yesterday approved spending $141,954 to give raises to 10 of its cardiology faculty members.

Individual raises range from $3,161 to $36,198, with the average raise being $14,195. The MCO Board of Trustees approved the raises unanimously.

Dr. Lloyd Jacobs, MCO president, said the raises are necessary to bring faculty members up to "equitable" levels compared with professors at other medical schools. "We're looking across the system to bring people up where we can," he said, adding that if MCO doesn't pay competitive salaries, it will lose talented faculty members.

MCO has been giving raises to other faculty members over the last few months, including raises to 15 faculty members in various departments last month, many of those due to promotions. Last month's and yesterday's raises will be paid for from grant funds, as well as MCO's general fund, Dr. Jacobs said.

In other board action, trustees approved the appointment of Dr. Edgar Staren as acting medical director of MCO Hospitals.

He replaces Dr. Theodore Fraker, who took a job at the Ohio State University School of Medicine.

Dr. Staren will be paid $260,148. Dr. Fraker was paid $213,663. Neither figure includes income from their clinical work, which was not available.