CA: USC administrator expected to be named California stem cell chief

San Diego Union -Tribune ^ | 2/28/05 | Paul Elias - AP

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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 Robert 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 Richard Murphy, a subcommittee member who voted to recommend Hall on Monday. Murphy 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," Murphy 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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