IRVINE : Silverman to Head UCI Health Project

UC Irvine Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening said Friday she has appointed an associate vice chancellor who will be responsible for the development of the Center for Health Sciences.

Wilkening appointed Paul H. Silverman, a former university president, laboratory director and scientist, who will be in charge of coordinating efforts to plan a $350-million medical research and clinical complex on the west side of campus.

Silverman, 69, who postponed retirement to take the one-year appointment, will fill a key role vacated when Dr. Walter Henry abruptly resigned last month as vice chancellor of health sciences and dean of the UCI College of Medicine. Silverman will assume the position March 1.

Wilkening is expected to choose an interim dean next month to head the medical school until a permanent dean is hired.

UCI spokeswoman Linda Granell said Silverman will be paid an annual salary of $136,000. By contrast, she said, Henry received $205,896 a year. Granell said Wilkening will not replace a consultant who was assisting Henry on the Center for Health Sciences project and was earning $99,632 annually.

Silverman served the past three years as director of scientific affairs at Beckman Instruments in Fullerton, acting as the corporation’s link with key scientists, academic centers and licensing agencies.

In his long career, Silverman was director of the University of California Biotechnology Research and Education Program, which fosters collaborations between UC science laboratories and industry. He also served as president of the University of Maine from 1980 to 1984 and as provost for research and graduate studies and president of the Research Foundation for the State University of New York from 1977-80.

Silverman, who lives in Irvine, said, “From what I see, there is an excellent foundation on which to build.”

He said he expects to be ready for bids on the first phase of the Center for Health Sciences--construction of a Neurological Research Institute--within a year.