Chancellor OK expected.

Byline: Shaun Sutner

WORCESTER - Dr. Michael F. Collins is expected to be formally confirmed as chancellor of University of Massachusetts Medical School at the UMass trustees' quarterly meeting this month, but significant issues remain to be settled, including his salary and whether Dr. Collins, a Boston resident, will be required to live here.

A trained internist and a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, Dr. Collins, 53, has been serving as interim chancellor of the medical school and UMass senior vice president for health sciences since May 2007.

After a $150,000 nationwide quest for a permanent chancellor, he was the unanimous pick of a 23-member search committee, which forwarded its choice to UMass President Jack M. Wilson on Aug. 14.

UMass officials declined to release the names of other candidates, saying the two other applicants for the job interviewed in Boston Aug. 14 were not considered finalists and that Dr. Collins was the only finalist.

Search committee members have lauded Dr. Collins as a visionary leader who will usher the fast-growing medical school into the future while overseeing its central role in the state's $1 billion life sciences initiative as home to a gene therapy research center here and an international stem cell registry at the school's Shrewsbury campus.

"There were more than 100 candidates under consideration, but ultimately the decision was to name one candidate," said Robert P. Connolly, a spokesman for Mr. Wilson's office. "This was really a blue-chip search committee. It was a unanimous decision to designate only one finalist."

As interim chancellor, Dr. Collins has received an annual salary of $490,000, with a $32,000 housing allowance.

Mr. Connolly said the pay for the permanent position will be decided after the choice is confirmed. Housing arrangements, including any stipulation that the chancellor live near the medical school campus here, would also be up for negotiation, he said.

The housing issue came to the forefront during the search. Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray, a former Worcester mayor, and City Councilor Philip P. Palmieri are among those who have advocated for the next chancellor to live here.

Dr. Aaron Lazare, who stepped down in March 2007 after leading the school as chancellor and dean for 16 years, commuted from Newton, where he still lives. The previous chancellor, Dr. Leonard Laster, who came here from Oregon, lived in a Worcester condominium and then in a house that he and his wife bought in West Boylston.

"We definitely realize the desire to have the chancellor live in Worcester," Mr. Connolly said. "We recognize that the desire exists in Worcester and we are giving that full consideration."

Alison Duffy, a spokeswoman for the medical school, said Dr. Collins declined to be interviewed until after the trustees act on his selection.

One issue the search committee touched on in considering Dr. Collins was his decade at the helm of Boston's multihospital Caritas Christi Health Care System, which is run by the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. Caritas has been criticized by, among others, Attorney General Martha Coakley for its narrow scope of reproductive health services.

Dr. Collins was removed from the post in 2004 by Boston Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley and was appointed chancellor of UMass Boston the next year.

Philip W. Johnston, chairman of the search committee, said Dr. Collins' career path - from the top health official of a church-run health care system that bans embryonic stem cell research to the presumptive leader of an institution that hopes to be a major player on the world stage in stem cell technology - is not an unusual transformation.

"He was working for the church at that time. He was widely praised for the performance of that system," Mr. Johnston said. "We're interested in what his views are now. He's very committed to life sciences, including stem cell research.

"We understand that when he was working for the church he was under certain restrictions," he continued.

Mr. Johnston praised Dr. Collins not only for administrative skills but also for a lifelong commitment to medical care. And he defended the search process, saying it was open and wide-ranging even though it ended up settling on the inside candidate.

"His whole career has been about providing health care to people," Mr. Johnston said. "We thought it was very important that there was a serious public process in place. We considered many other people before we arrived at this."

The chancellor search began in February. The committee, whose vice chairman was the school's Nobel Prize-winning scientist, Craig C. Mello, met five times and held 10 meetings with groups with an interest in the school's leadership, including students, faculty members and others from the community.

Contact Shaun Sutner by email at [e-mail].

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CUTLINE: Dr. Collins