Aggregated News
PALO ALTO _ Despite years of experience and a reputation as a hard-core scientist, Zach W. Hall stepped into controversy yesterday when he was hired as the interim president of California's fledgling stem cell institute.
Several watchdog groups questioned the $389,004 salary Hall will receive for the one-year job, which deal has him taking a demotion to senior scientific adviser once a permanent president is found.
Robert Gnaizda, general counsel of the Greenling Institute, pointed out in a written statement that the director of the National Institutes of Health receives a salary of $175,000.
He also noted that the NIH director oversees a staff of 16,000 and a budget 90 times larger than the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the organization running the state's $3 billion stem cell effort.
The salary also drew criticism from the Oakland-based Center for Genetics and Society and from public interest lawyer Charles Halpern, both of whom have questioned aspects of the stem cell effort in the past.
Yet members of the committee overseeing the effort said the pay is commensurate with Hall's experience, which...
Several watchdog groups questioned the $389,004 salary Hall will receive for the one-year job, which deal has him taking a demotion to senior scientific adviser once a permanent president is found.
Robert Gnaizda, general counsel of the Greenling Institute, pointed out in a written statement that the director of the National Institutes of Health receives a salary of $175,000.
He also noted that the NIH director oversees a staff of 16,000 and a budget 90 times larger than the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the organization running the state's $3 billion stem cell effort.
The salary also drew criticism from the Oakland-based Center for Genetics and Society and from public interest lawyer Charles Halpern, both of whom have questioned aspects of the stem cell effort in the past.
Yet members of the committee overseeing the effort said the pay is commensurate with Hall's experience, which...