# 364 Monday, September 3, 2007 - A PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH COMMITTEE MEETING
I have been to a lot of California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) meetings recently, where nothing much happens?on the surface?so I haven?t written about them. But Karen asked me to write a paragraph about such meetings, so here goes. Yesterday, Friday August 31, 2007, the Presidential search committee met at the CIRM office in San Francisco, as well as several other locations, connected by phone. Like all CIRM meetings, it which started off with public comment?I said something to the effect that it was understandable the CIRM took a while to find a new President, especially since the campaign to find a new President of the U.S. seemed to take several years. Chairman Klein asked did that mean I was hoping for a new President who was in favor of stem cell research, with which I enthusiastically concurred. I did not exactly jump up and down, but I suspect my position was clear. Then the meeting went into closed session for three hours, like any board discussion of potential new hires would do. Usually this means I go sit in the next room and read stuff while I wait. It?s peaceful, being the only idle person in an office full of frantically laboring people, and I like to wave at familiar faces as they zip past. But today I had the pleasure of a science writer?s company, which made the time fly by. Her name is Manya Baker, and she writes a stem cell department for Nature Magazine, called Nature Reports: Stem Cells. Very sharp indeed. The world will hear from her. I wanted to visit with Dr. Arlene Chiu, whom as you might have heard is retiring. Her family is in Los Angeles, and she has been the most amazingly dedicated worker in the field of science for many years, (she and Zach Hall were the first leaders of the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act, not to mention some decades at the NIH) and in the fullness of time, I understand, that all careers, however wonderful, must come to an end. Even the greatest champions must one day retire. I had felt this coming, and had in fact been harassing her gently to stick around for just a little more time, another half century or so. But now when it was real, I just?I don?t know?I feel an ache about not seeing Dr. Chiu in action all the time, a sense of insecurity and loss, like an unexpected death in the family. She is such a super person, kind and caring, always willing to answer anybody?s question, always wanting to do more? She cannot ever be replaced. I couldn?t find her, (she was working offsite) but while I was searching I overheard a lovely comment by Jenna Pryne, Chairman Klein?s assistant at CIRM?apparently her teenage daughter Ashley had visited Gladstone Institute and been so impressed by the stem cell research that she decided on the spot that this was going to be her career: ?Mom, I am going to become a scientist?, she said. I loved that. Then the committee came back. Most of the members were calling in from out of the area, and here at the CIRM were only Bob Klein and Jeff Sheehy. Chairman Klein commented that the level of the candidates for CIRM President was extraordinary, and Jeff Sheehy nodded his head slowly. Jeff is always a deep thought kind of guy, and he paused, and said (approximately): ?It is a difficult and humbling process, trying to choose a President from such amazing individual. They are truly gifted, and dedicated, and it is just hard to even consider choosing from such genuinely top-level individuals. You want to try to do them justice, but?wow.? And that was it, except time for public comment-- I considered sharing some of my childhood memories but decided three minutes was not long enough to do them justice, and I would save them (or at least Volume one, Year One, the Early Months) for another day. The meeting was over. Afterward, Monya Baker asked: could someone speak to the qualifications being sought? Bob looked at Jeff Sheehy and then at James Harrison, the CIRM counsel, for lawyerly considerations, then said (approximately): ?We are looking for someone with great leadership skills, a deep and demonstrated knowledge of translational medicine, bringing medical advances to patients as quickly as is safely possible. We seek an individual who understands the historical significance and unprecedented nature of the California endeavor, as well as a comprehensive understanding of the science itself. The candidates are men and women who have made extraordinary contributions to science, and though our search process may not take as long as that of finding a president in academia, typically an 18 month process, still it does require time to fairly and completely consider the outstanding candidates who have been recommended.? Then I went to eat food, from the enormous red and white box my wife Gloria had packed for me, and to face the endless traffic. On the drive over, there had been about fourteen signs on the way (plus radio and tv news for the last couple weeks) that the Bay Bridge was going to be closed over the weekend. So, I thought, I would take Highway 101 on the way in, skip the Bay Bridge altogether. Brilliant, huh? Except everybody else had the same idea, and it took two hours for a one hour trip, and I was barely early at all. So, on the way home, I figured, take the Bay Bridge. My reasoning was that it would not be closed for several hours, and everybody will be taking Highway 101, so I would have clear sailing, the Bridge (more or less) to myself. Except that I was apparently not the only person who had that idea? Don Reed www.stemcellbattles.com 
