Is This Outrageous Or What?

Is This Outrageous Or What?

By

Leonard Zwelling

https://govsalaries.com/pisters-peter-w-173605347

Peter Pisters W Overview

“Peter Pisters W in 2023 was employed at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and had a reported pay of $7,687,558 according to public records. This pay was 7,715 percent higher than the average and 11,836 percent higher than the median salary in University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.”

This is a direct copy and paste from the web site shown above. On this web site it shows that Dr. Pisters made $5,410,329 in 2022 and $3,105,945 in 2021.  This means his raise was about 42% from 2022 to 2023 and about 74% from 2021 to 2022.

By contrast, the next highest salary at MD Anderson listed on the web site for 2023 is that of Dr. Stephen Swisher at $1,779,514. By comparison, the UT Chancellor’s salary is listed as $873,956.

I don’t know about you, but something seems a little off given that the president’s salary has risen by leaps and bounds when I assume the average faculty member received about a 3% annual raise and that president’s salary is three times that of an operating surgeon.

Furthermore, there is a consistent drive to see more and more patients supposedly to maintain the margin of the institution.

Does any of this make sense to you? Me neither. Perhaps the faculty salaries have become excessive and surely those of the executive leadership have. Rosanna Morris, Chief Operating Officer, made $1,679,860 in 2023.

If Dr. Pisters feels his margin is not where it ought to be, perhaps he can look at these salaries and make some adjustments for the betterment of the institution’s bottom line.

If the President of MD Anderson and many of its surgical leaders make more than the Chancellor of UT, maybe it’s time for a reassessment.

I sincerely apologize if these numbers are incorrect. The web site I used is a public one and I assume it is correct or at least proportional when comparing the various salaries as benefits and SAPs might be included.

Clearly academic medicine is a great career choice if you rise to the top of the tallest administration building. I only wish this had been the case when I was a vice president. I assure you it was not.