Calif. stem cell research to be headed by USC associate dean

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USC associate dean to head state's stem cell research

Tuesday, March 1, 2005

From The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO -- Zach W. Hall, a veteran neuroscientist and associate

dean of medical research at the University of Southern California's

medical school, was recommended Monday to become interim president of

California's new $3 billion stem cell research institute.

The recommendation by a subcommittee was passed on to the full 29-

member committee appointed to oversee the California Institute for

Regenerative Medicine, which was widely expected to approve it

Tuesday during its monthly meeting at Stanford University is widely

expected. Hall would take over the interim president slot from

N. Klein, who would remain as the committee's chairman.

Hall, 67, didn't return two telephone calls Monday and his salary was

not disclosed Monday. Hall's pay is expected to be discussed Tuesday.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine was created by

Proposition 71, which passed with 59 percent of the vote. The

institute is bankrolled by $3 billion in bonds, most of which is

expected to be doled out as grants to fund research and laboratory

construction that supports human embryonic stem cell study.

From 1994-97, Hall was director of the National Institute of

Neurological Disorders and Strokes at the National Institutes of

Health. He managed 700 scientists and administrators and the NINDS'

budget grew from $650 million to $740 million during his stint.

Before taking over the NINDS, Hall headed the neurobiology department

at the University of California, San Francisco. He returned to UCSF

in 1997 and became executive vice chancellor.

As vice chancellor, Hall played a pivotal role in planning UCSF's

Mission Bay campus, a 43-acre project along San Francisco's southern

bay shore. Mission Bay is one of several possible locations around

the state for the new stem cell institute's headquarters.

He left UCSF again in 2001 to launch the biotechnology company EnVivo

Pharmaceuticals in 2001. He served as chief executive until he joined

USC's Keck School of Medicine in 2002. He remains on the Watertown,

Mass.-based company's scientific advisory board. EnVivo

Pharmaceuticals, which is developing drugs to treat brain disorders,

appears to have no projects involving stem cell research.

" His appointment should say to the scientific world and to the voters

of California that we are not compromising on quality, " said

, a subcommittee member who voted to recommend Hall on Monday.

is also chief executive officer of the Salk Institute for

Biological Studies

Hall's tenure could be short. The head hunting firm the institute

hired -- SpencerStuart of San Francisco -- plans to have a full-time

president hired by the first week of June.

" When the permanent president takes office, I would expect Dr. Hall

to continue in some other capacity within CRIM or step aside, "

said. " I believe Dr. Hall, like others, will have the opportunity to

let his name stand for permanent president if he so desires. "

SpencerStuart said the institute may pay a total salary package of

roughly between $300,000 and $600,000 annually for the job. That's at

the lower end of what deans of prestigious medical schools make.

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