Local News in Brief : Irvine : Philip DiSaia Named to UCI Endowed Chair

A prominent obstetrics-gynecology physician at UC Irvine has been named to fill an endowed chair in reproductive biology, UCI Chancellor Jack W. Peltason announced Wednesday.

Peltason said Dr. Philip DiSaia, in taking the Dorothy Marsh Chair in Reproductive Biology, will resign his administrative post as associate vice chancellor of health sciences at the UCI College of Medicine.

DiSaia chose to resign the administrative post due to recent illness, Peltason said. DiSaia was released from the UCI Medical Center last week following the surgical implantation of a device to control an irregular heartbeat.

“Phil’s contributions to UCI and to medicine are immeasurable and his energy boundless,” Peltason said. “By accepting the Marsh Chair, he has opted to devote himself to his primary loves in academia--teaching, research and clinical practice.”

DiSaia, who has been at UCI since 1977, is a former chairman of the university’s department of obstetrics and gynecology. He is nationally prominent for his research on “biological-response modifiers” such as interferon, and on its use in the treatment of cancer.