LOS ANGELES (AP) — An investigation at the University of California, Los Angeles, medical school found that female professors at its Alzheimer's disease research center worked under hostile conditions.

The Los Angeles Times reported that a letter from a UCLA administrator to center staff said the work environment compromised patient care and research.

The newspaper says the letter was written in March by the university's vice dean for faculty, who said an outside investigator concluded that the women had complained in the past, but administrators did not react appropriately.

Dale Tate, a spokeswoman for UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, said the letter involves personnel matters so she could not comment beyond saying that the university opposes workplace discrimination.