Scientificsparks
Zach Hall, a Renowned Neuroscientist, Sees His New Role as Senior Associate Dean For Research as Being a Chanpion For Scientific Collaboration and Success
"I know I'm not supposed to say this, but I really do enjoy being an administrator." Zach W. Hall, Ph.D., the Keck School of Medicine's newly arrived senior associate dean for research, lowers his voice and leans in a bit as he delivers this not-so-startling admission, an ever-present smile playing at his lips.
"I remember when I first became chair of the physiology
department at the University of California, San Francisco,"
he continues. "My scientific colleagues would come up to
me and say, 'How are you doing?' in a pitying voice. They were
clearly expecting me to say how it was horrible, how I never
got into my lab any more, how everyone was complaining to me
all the time, how stressful it all was.
"But the truth was, I found I quite enjoyed the job. I like
solving problems and working with people-and I especially enjoy
bringing good people to work together."
With a broad sense of humor and an even broader sense of purpose,
that is exactly what Hall-a renowned neuroscientist, a national
scientific leader and a champion of the basic sciences-hopes
to do in his new role at the Keck School. His charge: to act
as the School's chief scientific officer and to help lead it
into the upper echelons of medical schools through an ambitious
plan to develop its strategic initiatives, build its base research
and recruit 135 additional faculty scientists over the next eight
years.
But that is not all. "Becoming a top 10 medical school is
a metric goal, the kind of goal everyone can understand,"
he says. "My real goal is to help the Keck School of Medicine
achieve a scientific community that is vibrant and exciting and
overflowing with ideas and bright people. If that happens, the
rest will take care of itself."
Back to basics
Hall's appointment is in line with recommendations recently handed
down by the external Basic Science Department Review Committee,
appointed by Keck School Dean Stephen J. Ryan, M.D. The highly
esteemed five-member committee spent two days at the Health Sciences
Campus last June, interviewing senior and junior faculty members
and considering how the School can best achieve its important
goals. They eventually handed Ryan a report that included 11
specific recommendations for the School. The very first of those
recommendations was a call for Ryan to put together a Faculty
Research Council of the School's leading basic scientists-and
to chair it with a "highly respected basic scientist with
leadership qualities." Hall fits the bill perfectly, says
Ryan, who considers the Keck School "extraordinarily fortunate"
to have convinced Hall to take on this "important leadership
position."
Ryan adds, "Zach was a key leader in elevating neuroscience
at UCSF before becoming director of the National Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke [NINDS] at the National Institutes
of Health. He brings tremendous experience from academia, government
and industry. He knows who's who in basic research, and he has
exquisite scientific taste."
Scientific intoxication
Hall's vision of the future of the Keck School sounds like the
recipe for some kind of potent scientific cider. "Ideally,
this campus will become a giant fermentation vat," he says.
"People will be mixing, interacting, striking intellectual
sparks off of one another. Science is exciting, even intoxicating
at its best, especially when the scientists in the community
take pride not only in their own work, but in what others are
doing.
"When this happens," he adds, "everyone walks
a little faster, thinks a little faster. You get a sense that
you're part of something, where you're just cooking."
The recipe for Hall's own success began with an undergraduate
degree in English from Yale University and two years of medical
school at Emory University, followed by a doctoral degree in
biochemistry from Harvard University. After a postdoctoral fellowship
at Stanford University, he joined Harvard's Department of Neurobiology;
he stayed there from 1968 until 1976, when he moved to UCSF.
Hall's stint as director of the NINDS ran from 1994 to 1997.
During that time, he shepherded the institute through a major
reorganization of its research programs, increased its budget
from $650 million to $740 million and oversaw a staff of more
than 700 scientists and administrators. Hall is particularly
proud of an initiative he began there on Parkinson's disease,
in which he organized a scientific collaboration that resulted
in the cloning of the first known gene to be associated with
Parkinson's.
"Even though I wasn't one of the investigators named on
the paper," he says, "I get a huge amount of personal
satisfaction just knowing that I made that project happen."
In 1997, Hall returned to UCSF. After being named executive vice
chancellor, he led the planning and development of the school's
43-acre Mission Bay campus for basic science research. Ryan,
who toured the research laboratories that Hall was instrumental
in designing, says, "They are truly the best I have ever
seen. The functionality put the emphasis on science and collaboration,
with students interacting with faculty constantly. It will be
almost impossible for them not to interact and collaborate."
Says Hall: "That was a really great project. I got to work
with all sort of people-architects, scientists, development people.
We worked together for a good cause."
Most recently, Hall was president and chief executive officer
of EnVivo, a start-up biotechnology company focused on developing
therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases through the study
of human disease models in the fruit fly.
As far as basic science goes, Hall knows quite well whereof he
speaks: He is renowned as a neuroscientist for his fundamental
contributions to the investigation of the molecular structure
and function of the neuromuscular junction-the interface between
nerve and muscle. In particular, he has focused on the structure
and assembly of the receptor for the neurotransmitter
acetylcholine. He is the author and editor of An Introduction to Molecular Neurobiology, a widely used textbook, and has published more than 100 original papers. He was also a founding editor of Neuron, a leading journal of cellular and molecular neurobiology.
Hall has been a member of the medical advisory board of the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute and of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives.
In addition, he served as a member of an external advisory committee
put together to guide the formation of the Keck School's Zilkha
Neurogenetic Institute.
Hall is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the
National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences and an honorary member of the American Neurological
Society. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science.
In addition to serving as senior associate dean for research,
Hall has also been named professor in the Department of Cell
and Neurobiology.
Critical recruitments
But, first and foremost, Hall will lead the Keck School's basic
science initiative, as the School forges ahead with its ambitious
plans and dreams. "The new initiative to expand scientific
research at the Keck School of Medicine is a major step forward
that will put the School in the top ranks of medical institutions
in the country," says Hall. "This is a place where
things are happening. I am delighted to be here and be part of
this exciting new project."
As chair of the Faculty Research Council, Hall hopes to make
a difference at what he considers to be the most basic and important
of levels-the recruitment of both junior and senior faculty to
the School. "I've always viewed hiring people as the most
important thing that a leader does," he says. "And
so the goal of the Council will be to establish a plan and a
set of procedures for recruiting that will facilitate and coordinate
recruitment for the basic sciences."
In the upcoming months, the Faculty Research Council will advise
the Keck School's departments and institutes on a number of critical
recruitments-including the search for a top-notch neuroscientist
to lead the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute.
"The most exciting time to be at a place is when it's on
the upward curve," says Hall. "That's what I sense
at USC. And that's why I want to be a part of it."
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