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Administration
  • Raymond L. White, Ph.D., Director
  • William R. Sawyers, J.D., Chief Administrative Officer

  • Robert O. Messing, M.D., Associate Director

  • John Kaso, Chief Financial Officer

  • Nancy Green, Director of Administration

The Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, although affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco, functions as an independent research institute, both administratively and operationally. Gallo Center support services include:

- Administration
- Human Resources
- Grants and Contracts
- Accounting
- Operations and Purchasing
- Information Technology

These services are supported primarily through indirect costs from NIH-sponsored grants awarded to the Gallo Center.



Raymond L. White, Ph.D., Director PDF Print E-mail
Raymond White is a pioneer in developing the molecular tools for construction of a map of genetic markers for the human genome. He was one of the first to recognize that the emerging advances in DNA technology were making it possible to directly detect base-pair changes in human DNA, and that these could be used as a large source of genetic markers. The human marker map and its markers have made it possible to pinpoint chromosomal locations of a number of genes that are responsible for inherited diseases. Hundreds of these genes have now been isolated following the paradigm of "positional cloning". He and his laboratory played key roles in the identification of the Neurofibromatosis Type I gene and the gene for familial polyposis, an inherited form of colon cancer. White’s laboratory also used the mapped genetic markers to examine the genetic events of tumorigenesis in retinoblastoma, showing that one copy of the "retinoblastoma gene" is often lost during tumor development. This led to the realization that many of the most important cancer genes act as tumor suppressors, where both copies of the gene must be inactivated, often by a chromosomal rearrangement. In 2002, Dr. White became the Director of the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, and in 2003 he was appointed Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. White was honored with the Rudi Schmid Distinguished Professor Endowed Chair at UCSF in 2004. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine.
 
William R. Sawyers, Chief Administrative Officer PDF Print E-mail

Bill Sawyers joined the Gallo Center as Chief Administrative Officer in 2005. In this role he oversees all non-scientific functions at the Center, including Finance & Accounting, Facilities, Administration, Grants, Human Resources and Intellectual Property. He serves as General Counsel to the Gallo Center. Bill also supervises the Center’s efforts to partner with industry and to commercialize Gallo Center technologies.


Prior to joining the Gallo Center, Bill was a partner in the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in San Francisco, where he served as outside counsel to the Center. Before moving to Orrick, Bill served as General Counsel to Del Monte Foods Company, a NYSE company based in San Francisco.

Bill received his B.A. from Williams College and his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law.
 
Robert O. Messing, Associate Director PDF Print E-mail

Dr. Messing joined the Gallo Center as a Principal Investigator in 1986 and became Associate Director in 2000.  In this role he oversees several internal scientific functions at the Center, including the core facilities (Histology Core, Animal Care Facility, Tissue Culture Core, Transgenic Core), and space allocation.  He also serves as a member of the Gallo Center Executive Committee, participates in oversight of the Gallo Preclinical Development Program and is currently leading efforts to conduct human trials as director of the Gallo Translational Clinical Research Unit.

Dr. Messing is a Professor of Neurology and member of the Graduate Program in Neurosciences at UCSF.  He regularly attends on the neurology in-patient service and outpatient clinic at San Francisco General Hospital.  He also chairs the Medical Advisory Council of the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation, and serves as Associate Editor of the Annals of Neurology.  Dr. Messing serves on several advisory and grant review boards, including the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the Board of Directors of the Research Society on Alcoholism, and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Epilepsy Therapy Development Project.

Dr. Messing received his BA in History in 1974 and his MD in 1979, both from Stanford University.  He trained in Internal Medicine from 1979-1981 at the University of Virginia, and then in Neurology at UCSF from 1981-1984, where he served as Chief Resident from 1983-1984.  He currently holds the Endowed Chair in Neurology in Honor of the Gallo Family.

 
John Kaso, Chief Financial Officer PDF Print E-mail

John Kaso joined the Gallo Center in September 2007 and is responsible for financial activities and administrative information technology.  John came from 9 years with UC Berkeley where he served as the Assistant Dean for Business and Administrative for both the School of Public Health, and International and Area Studies.  John also served 21 years in the U.S. Navy and retired as a Commander.

He received his BA in International Relations from Saint Joseph’s College, and an MBA from Drexel University.  Outside of work, John is a licensed U.S. Rowing Referee. He is also on the Board of Directors of Volunteers of America, Bay Area.

John is married to Kim (Eubanks) Kaso of New Wilmington, Pa.  They have three children, Kate (25), Tory (21) and Sam (18).
 
Nancy Green, Director of Administration PDF Print E-mail
Nancy Green joined the Gallo Center in 2006 and is Director of Administration.  In this role she oversees the day-to-day operations of the Administrative Departments.  Nancy has 15 years of experience in management in the legal and biotech industries.  She is an active member of the Association of Legal Administrators.