Mr. Davey said that Dr. Strauss also worked at the medical center and student health center.

The investigation has been referred to the Columbus Division of Police and the Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for possible criminal investigation, Mr. Davey said. The statement said the university would release the outcome of the investigation when it is complete.

Mr. Davey said Friday that the investigation started in response to a report in March from one person, who said he and others had experienced the sexual misconduct. Mr. Davey said the university was unable to share the specific number of individuals who have come forward since then. “The goal of the investigation is to assess and evaluate the allegations raised by members of the Ohio State community regarding Dr. Strauss, and determine whether the university had knowledge of such allegations,” he said.

During the 1980s, Dr. Strauss conducted several studies on sports medicine that were published in medical journals, including one on the dangerous side effects of anabolic steroids. He was quoted in several newspapers, including The New York Times in 1988, about those dangers.

News reports from the 1980s about athletes taking steroids identified Dr. Strauss as a member of the drug-screening team at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Some accounts also mentioned he had a role as a doctor for USA Wrestling, but the organization said Friday it had no record of that.

Dr. Strauss was born in Illinois and graduated from the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago in 1964. After medical school, he entered the Navy as a medical officer on a submarine, according to a 2005 University of Chicago newsletter. He completed his medical residency in 1975 at Rutgers University before he joined Ohio State University.