Nancy Pelosi joins UCSF to celebrate new fetal treatment center
WHAT: Ribbon-cutting ceremony for UCSF Medical Center’s new Fetal Treatment Center, made possible in large part by a $500,000 federal appropriation initiated by U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi and a grant from the Lucile Packard Foundation.
WHEN: Friday, March 24, 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM
WHERE: UCSF Fetal Treatment Center,
Ambulatory Care Center - First Floor,
400 Parnassus Ave., San Francisco
WHO: U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.);
Mark Laret, CEO, UCSF Medical Center;
Michael Harrison, MD, director, Fetal Treatment Center at UCSF;
Diana Farmer, MD, chief, Division of Pediatric Surgery at UCSF;
Fetal Treatment Center patients and their families
CONTACT: Media interested in the ribbon-cutting ceremony or arranging interviews with UCSF specialists and patient families should contact the UCSF News Office at (415) 476-2557.
The UCSF Fetal Treatment Center is world renowned for its expertise and innovation in the treatment of a host of complex and potentially fatal congenital defects in utero. The Center integrates specialists in surgery, genetics, obstetrics and perinatology, radiology, nursing, and neonatal medicine together in a top-notch team to provide patients and referring physicians with one-stop for a thorough approach to fetal treatment, from initial diagnosis through long-term follow up.
In the next few weeks, the Fetal Treatment Center will launch a state-of-the-art World Wide Web portal to allow patients and referring physicians from across the country and around the world to communicate with Center physicians in real time over a secure Internet connection. Physicians can review diagnostic images, such as ultrasound pictures, as well as see and be seen by patients at remote locations, thereby streamlining the consultation process.
This is the 25th anniversary year of the first open fetal surgery in the world, performed under the leadership of UCSF’s Michael Harrison, MD, who pioneered the entire field of fetal treatment. In 1981, a UCSF team performed the first surgery on a fetus in utero, ushering in a new era of fetal intervention for life-threatening medical problems.
UCSF is a leading university that consistently defines health care worldwide by conducting advanced biomedical research, educating graduate students in the life sciences, and providing complex patient care.