University Times

Pitt's five highest paid professors during the 1996-97 fiscal year were – as usual – from the School of Medicine, according to an Internal Revenue Service form that the University filed this month.

The professors were: Bartley P. Griffith, professor of cardiothoracic surgery – $591,650 in salary (up from $380,600 the year before), $42,434 in fringe benefits and $5,416 in educational benefits.

Ronald B. Herberman, professor of medicine/pathology and associate vice chancellor for Health Sciences – $361,331 in salary (344,468 the year before) and $36,357 in benefits.

Lawrence Dobson Ellis, visiting professor of medicine – $315,600 in salary ($300,600 the year before) and $38,942 in benefits.

James D. Luketich, assistant professor of surgery – $305,600 in salary, $17,406 in benefits and $1,611 in educational benefits.

Gregory Patrick, assistant professor of family medicine and clinical epidemiology – $302,131 in salary and $26,647 in benefits.

Luketich and Patrick did not make the top five list the previous year, so their 1995-96 compensation isn't public information. Pitt's administration does not release compensation data for individual employees except University officers. Compensation for the five highest paid non-officer employees is available because it is required on the IRS Form 990, which is a public document.

The IRS requires tax-exempt, private corporations such as Pitt to file Form 990s annually. The form is limited to salaries, benefits and allowances processed through the Pitt payroll system. It does not include income that University employees get from clinical practice plans and the UPMC Health System.

Two Pitt administrators received compensation exceeding $300,000 during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 1997:

Thomas P. Detre, senior vice chancellor for Health Sciences and distinguished service professor – $425,600 in salary (his current salary is $438,000), $68,703 in benefits and $7,037 in expenses and other allowances. Detre plans to retire as senior vice chancellor this fall.

Last week, Arthur S. Levine of the National Institutes of Health was named to the combined job of senior vice chancellor for Health Sciences and dean of Pitt's medical school, effective Nov. 1.

Pitt trustees, in consultation with Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, will set Levine's salary and announce it this summer or fall. See stories on this page and on page 3.

Jeffrey A. Romoff, senior vice chancellor for Health Administration and president of UPMC Health System – $340,100 in salary, $42,280 in benefits, $6,118 in expenses and other allowances, and $5,416 in educational benefits. Romoff relinquished his senior vice chancellor job last summer as part of an overhaul of the Pitt-UPMC relationship. He is no longer a Pitt employee.

The University's Form 990 also lists the five firms that received the most money from Pitt during FY 1996-97.

Pitt paid $2.03 million to Pittsburgh certified public accountants Deloitte & Touche LLP for auditing University financial statements and for consulting work, mainly related to Pitt's new PRISM on-line financial system.

The Pittsburgh law firm of Reed Smith Shaw & McClay received $662,077 for employment litigation.

The University paid another local law firm, Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, $372,139 for work involving patents and intellectual property issues, real estate law and employee benefits.

Charlotte, NC-based consultants Coopers & Lybrand LLP were paid $300,704 for a study of efficiency in Pitt business and administrative units.

Brumbaugh Graves Donohue & Raymond, New York City-based attorneys, received $163,040 for work on patent agreements.

Pitt paid a total of $3.53 million to the five firms. The total paid to the previous year's top five was $2.39 million.

‹ Bruce Steele