UC San Francisco Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann Will Sell Tobacco Holdings, Undergo 'Values Screening'

After the New York Times led an inquiry into her stock holdings, newly minted UC San Francisco Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann will sell between $10,001 and $100,000 worth of shares in tobacco giant Altria. She has since donated money totaling to the amount of the stock to the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.

Desmond-Hellmann, a medical doctor and public health advocate, told the Times that she did not know her investment adviser had purchased the stock. In response to scrutiny over her holdings, she said:

"When this came up, we thought, 'Gee, what are we thinking?' " Dr. Desmond-Hellmann said of the resulting discussion with her husband. "I'm an oncologist, he's an AIDS doctor, we're both physicians, and I'm in charge of a public university. So we both said that isn't consistent with our values."