Wednesday, March 2, 2005

USC Dean Named California Stem Cell Head

A top USC medical school administrator has been named to the head of California's new stem cell research efforts. Zach W. Hall, an associate dean at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, was named Interim President of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine yesterday by an independent committee. The Institute, which was created as part of the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative, will distribute $3B in research funds to stem-cell related research initiatives in the state. The $3B stem cell effort was approved last year as Proposition 71, and was supported by Governor Schwarzenegger. Hall has also serves as director of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute and has also been director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the NIH.

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