By Molly Cuddy

David McBride, director of the University of Maryland Health Center, is leaving his position according to an email sent to university staff on Mon., Sept. 16 by interim assistant vice president of student affairs John Zacker. 

Beginning his position at the Health Center in 2014, McBride pushed to strengthen immunization requirements, advocated for substance abuse prevention and improved services for sexual assault victims according to Zacker’s email. However, the university and health center faced backlash during the widespread outbreak of adenovirus when they waited 18 days to announce information about the outbreak which culminated in the death of freshman Olivia Paregol. 

“I wish the health center reported the fact that adenovirus was going around campus,” sophomore journalism major Noah Lofman said.

Lofman also had adenovirus last year and had to return home to Chicago because his symptoms got so bad. “Since my roommate and I didn’t know, we were misdiagnosed,” he said.

Although McBride told the Washington Post that the way the health center handled the outbreak is according to the Center for Disease Control guidelines, it did not ease the backlash he and the rest of the health center faced.

While freshman astronomy and physics major Rey Karthikeyan did not attend UMD at the time of the adenovirus outbreak, she understands the criticism the health center faced for their decisions.

“It’s not just about government standards,” Karthikeyan said. “There’s actual people living on campus. Being able to warn them and just let them know what’s going on is really important.” 

Ian Vinkler, junior, was living in on-campus housing during the mold and adenovirus problems. 

“They were aware that there were students with potentially compromised immune systems. They should have told us as soon as they knew it,” Vinkler said. “It’s just complete incompetence you shouldn’t expect of a healthcare professional.”

According to the email, McBride had “been recruited to serve as a medical director in the private sector.” The university still has yet to inform students about McBride leaving his position.

After holding his position as director for five years, McBride will be leaving in the upcoming weeks. An interim director will take his position.