Orange : Regents Name Schwartz Medical Center Director

University of California regents on Friday appointed Leon Schwartz director of the UCI Medical Center here, where he has served as acting director for 16 months.

The regents, meeting in Santa Cruz, approved the appointment--recommended by UCI Chancellor Jack W. Peltason--in a closed session, UC spokesman Mike Lassiter said.

Schwartz, 58, was instrumental in financially turning around the teaching hospital, which a year ago was $9.6 million in debt, officials have said. According to a financial report presented to the regents Thursday, the medical center had a $973,000 operating budget surplus at the end of May.

Schwartz has said the turnaround is the result of strict cost controls and the influx of privately insured patients at the former county hospital, which treats a disproportionately high number of poor patients. The aging facility also has suffered from a bad image, stemming from its load of impoverished patients and its aging buildings, but Schwartz has said the image is changing as buildings are renovated and faculty physicians bring in new patients.

Schwartz left a position as UCI vice chancellor for administrative and business services in March, 1985, to take over the helm of the medical center from director William Gonzalez, who resigned amid mounting debts and sagging staff morale.

In addition to taking on the director’s job on a permanent basis, Schwartz will resume his duties as vice chancellor. His salary will be $116,000 a year.

UCI will recruit an associate vice chancellor for administrative and business services and an assistant hospital director to assist Schwartz in his double duties, Peltason said earlier this week.