Dive Brief:
- University of Pittsburgh pharmacy school professor Billy Day received 18 counts of felony drug charges in a Tuesday arraignment stemming from his use of university money to purchase narcotics.
- An internal audit revealed that the tenured 52-year-old used over $3,800 of money from the university or federal National Institutes of Health grants to buy substances including Midazolam, Demerol, Clonazepam and Lorazepam, all of which he allegedly injected.
- Day was outed by pharmacy school chairman Barry Gold, who confronted Day about the "suspicious" purchases and reported him to the police.
Dive Insight:
Day is currently out on $25,000 unsecured bail, and regardless of the outcome for the criminal charges, we hope he gets the help he needs. Sadly, this isn't the first time a member of Pitt's staff was able to suspiciously acquire illicit substances. In July, medical researcher Robert Ferrante purchased cyanide with a university card days before his wife died of cyanide poisoning.