University of California President Mark G. Yudof has named a committee of university regents, faculty, staff, students, alumni and community representatives to advise him in the national search for the next chancellor of UC San Francisco.

J. Michael Bishop, M.D., 72, who has led the UCSF campus since February 1998, announced last month that he would step down as chancellor June 30, 2009. He shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Medicine for cancer research with Harold Varmus. Bishop also received the 2003 National Medal of Science. He joined the UCSF faculty in 1968, and while serving as chancellor, has continued to teach medical students and run his distinguished research lab.

Over the past decade, Bishop steered UCSF through one of its most expansive periods of growth and achievement, which included development at Mission Bay of one of the largest academic biomedical research centers in the nation, establishment of innovative research programs and record philanthropic support. In late summer 2008, construction also began on the new headquarters for the UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medicine, a major institute for stem cell and tissue biology research.

Named to serve on the advisory committee are:

• UC Regents Richard C. Blum, Sherry Lansing, George Marcus, Leslie Tang Schilling and David Shewmake (alumni regent and president of the UCSF Alumni Association);

• Faculty representatives Henry Powell, M.D., D.Sc., vice chair of the Universitywide Academic Senate and professor of pathology, UC San Diego; Talmadge King, M.D., professor of internal medicine and chair of the department of medicine, UCSF School of Medicine; Larry Pitts, M.D., professor of neurological surgery, UCSF School of Medicine; Richard Jordan, D.D.S., Ph.D., professor of oral pathology, UCSF School of Dentistry; Glenna Dowling, RN and Ph.D., professor and chair of the department of physiological nursing, UCSF School of Nursing; Ruth Greenblatt, M.D., professor of clinical pharmacy, UCSF School of Pharmacy; and Carole Joffe, Ph.D., professor of sociology, UC Davis, and member of the Bixby Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy, UCSF;

• Staff representative Heather Alden, senior analyst, UCSF Academic Senate, and chair-elect of the Staff Council, UCSF;

• Student representatives Elliott Gorelick, representing the Associated Students, UCSF, and Sarah Goodwin, representing the Graduate Students Association;

• Alumni representative Judith Luce, M.D. (UCSF Class of 1974);

• UCSF Foundation representative Richard M. Rosenberg, chair of the foundation's board of directors, and retired chairman and CEO of Bank of America Corp.; and

• President Yudof will serve as an ex officio member and convener of the committee.

• Tomi Ryba, chief operating officer of the UCSF Medical Center, was also named as a representative of the medical center's administration.

Advisory committee to meet with campus groups Dec. 16

The committee's first meeting will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 16, at UCSF's Parnassus campus, where committee members will meet in closed session with invited faculty, staff, students and community representatives to gather ideas and comments about the search and learn the distinct needs of the San Francisco campus.

The daylong forum will include remarks by President Yudof, followed by a series of separate sessions with the various campus constituency groups. The president and committee members will also participate in a luncheon with alumni, donors and community leaders.

The advisory committee will also be involved in recruiting, screening and conducting interviews with candidates for the position. The committee's work will be scheduled so that candidates can be presented to President Yudof for consideration and a recommended nominee submitted to the Board of Regents tentatively by spring 2009.

In addition to presentations by those constituency representatives who will be meeting with the committee on Dec. 16, public comments are also encouraged throughout the search process. Comments may be submitted via email at ucsfchancellorsearch@ucop.edu, in writing or through the online form at www.ucsf.edu/chancellor-search.

The nationwide search will be assisted by Isaacson, Miller (www.imsearch.com), a firm specializing in executive placements in education, health care and not-for-profit sectors.

Please note: The advisory committee includes five regents who also serve on the Regents' standing committee on long range planning, which would constitute a quorum of this committee. No Regents' committee business will be considered at the UCSF meeting.

For more information about the search from the UCSF campus: www.ucsf.edu/chancellor-search

For a copy of the Regents' policy on the appointment of chancellors: www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/policies/6135.html

For more news and information about the University of California: www.universityofcalifornia.edu