BOSTON (AP) – A Boston University School of Medicine professor and director of the school’s Institute for Sexual Medicine is leaving the university at the end of May, in part because of disagreements with administrators over how to run the institute.

Dr. Irwin Goldstein, 54, who helped change attitudes about women’s sexual dysfunction by pursuing medical treatments, said he was forced out by top administrators who disagreed with his approach to running the institute.

He tried to establish an independent identity for the 3-year-old institute, which he hoped would encourage other universities to establish separate academic departments of sexual medicine.

“I wanted the field to grow and develop, and I went to the dean and tried to work it out where I could … gain more autonomy and encourage a multidisciplinary approach,” he told The Boston Globe. “They didn’t want this, and I lost their support.”

A medical school spokeswoman said in a statement that Goldstein “made a number of requests to the medical center regarding departmental organization.

“The medical center was unable to reach an acceptable agreement with Dr. Goldstein and therefore decided not to continue his contract,” spokeswoman Ellen Berlin wrote.

Goldstein said he is negotiating with several medical schools and expects to make a choice by early summer.

The future of the institute, which combines patient care, public education, and research of sexual problems, is unclear, because the original anonymous donor has the option of withdrawing funding upon Goldstein’s departure.