(Haight Ashbury) Clinic founder resigns in protest of new CEO's layoffs [View All]

By Kim Curtis
ASSOCIATED PRESS

11:08 a.m. March 19, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO – <snip>

In 1967, “Dr. Dave” was 28 and he practiced his own brand of rock 'n' roll medicine – treating addicts, hippies and students for drug overdoses, sexually transmitted diseases and the common cold. In the early years, it stayed afloat with money from musicians like George Harrison and concert promoters like Bill Graham.

Haight Ashbury Free Clinics Inc. now serves about 65,000 patients a year at several locations around the Bay Area and is used as a model for free clinics across the country. But Smith walked away from his life's work last month because of a philosophical clash with the clinic's new CEO, John Eckstrom, a former Fortune 500 executive. <snip>

Smith believes Eckstrom intends to open a retail pharmacy at the clinic. He calls what's going on there a “corporate takeover.” <snip>

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20060319-1108-ca-hippieclinic.html