Of the 10 highest paid UC San Diego employees, none are women, according to the University’s annual payroll data.
19 of the 20 highest paid employees at UCSD in 2016 were male doctors, led by Robert Weinreb, a renowned ophthalmologist and expert in glaucoma. Weinreb is head of the Shiley Eye Institute and a distinguished professor at UCSD. He earned $1,626,782 last year.
Weinreb is followed by Michael Madani and Ehtisham Mahmud, cardiologists at the Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, and dermatologist Shang Jiang. They each earned $1,579,002, $1,356,857, and $1,233,021, respectively.
Lucila Ohno-Machado, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of medicine and founder of the Department of Biomedical Informatics at UCSD, ranks 14th. She earned $939,465 last year.
Though the salaries for doctors in the top 20 range from about $150,000 to $550,000, they earn a gross pay in the millions due to pay differentials. These pay differentials are common in health care. Doctors are given additional compensation for exceeding performance, seeing patients, and performing high-risk procedures. Although Patricia Maysent, CEO of UC San Diego Health, is first in “regular pay,” with a salary of $794,981 in 2016, she ranks 28th in gross pay.
Additional pay is also indicative of holding multiple positions and directorships and having research contracts and grants.
The top 10 highest paid UCSD employees by gross pay are:
- Robert N. Weinreb: $1,626,782
- Michael M. Madani: $1,579,002
- Ehtisham Mahmud: $1,356,857
- Shang I. B. Jiang: $1,233,021
- Nicholas C. Saenz: $1,130,466
- Michael L. Levy: $1,096,502
- Victor (Gert) D. Pretorius: $1,087,901
- Scott M. Lippman: $1,023,059
- Bryan M. Clary: $1,005,880
- Timothy J. Fairbanks: $1,005,519
Betsy Meeker is a contributing writer at The Triton.