Archive: UCSF 101: Campus at the Crossroads

UCSF's mission in life is life: understanding it, nurturing it, improving it and saving it. That was true when the founders of Toland Medical College - the precursor to UCSF -- opened its doors in 1864. It is that vision too that gave birth to a bustling new campus now growing by the day at Mission Bay, and that is laying the foundation in stem cell research and prompting a master planning process at the Parnassus Heights campus. Today, UCSF stands at the crossroads of its future. It is engaged in a period of institutional introspection as faculty, staff and students are involved in a campuswide strategic planning process. At the end of this collaborative process next spring, UCSF will emerge with a new mission statement, clearly defined academic priorities, and a comprehensive and integrated plan for the future. UCSF also is experiencing a cultural transformation in that the University is working in novel ways to build upon its strong tradition and spirit of collaboration. New opportunities for interaction are evident as the newly funded Clinical and Translational Science Institute draws together basic researchers with their clinical colleagues across the campus and community at large with the goal of steering the course of scientific discovery from bench to bedside faster. It is also evident as the schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy and the Graduate Division are working together as they never have before. UCSF held its first-ever all-school student education day, breaking down barriers to begin redefining how health professionals are taught and ultimately to benefit human health.

Students from all four schools participated in the first-ever Interprofessional Education Day at UCSF.

Lastly, UCSF is planning to build for 21st century. UCSF Medical Center is looking to expand its clinical presence in San Francisco by building a hospital complex for children, women's and cancer services at Mission Bay, which will allow for program growth, improved patient care and greater opportunities for collaborative translational research. And UCSF is planning for the headquarters of the Institute for Regeneration Medicine, which will become a new centerpiece at Parnassus Heights. UCSF is much more than a collection of campus sites that span the City and the state. In this package of stories, we hope further the understanding of this complex enterprise on the eve of its next evolution. Here are a few of the people and programs that make UCSF a place of hope and promise. Signs of Success UCSF enjoys a global reputation for excellence. Consider the news from this year alone:
  • • Newsweek International ranked UCSF ninth among the world's top 100 universities distinguished as instruments for peace, scientific discoveries and diversity.
  • • The world-class faculty is consistently recognized and honored with the most prestigious awards for biomedical research, the latest being famed molecular biologist Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD, who received the 2006 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research.
  • • UCSF Medical Center ranks No. 9 among America's best hospitals and UCSF Children's Hospital is recognized as one of the highest-quality pediatric facilities in California, according to US News & World Report. More recently, the medical center also was named among the top 59 hospitals in 2006, based on a national rating system that offers a broad assessment of a hospital's quality and safety, according to the Washington DC-based Leapfrog Group.
  • • An international intellectual community of postdoctoral scholars, students and staff is among the world's most dedicated and committed to promoting health and healing worldwide, as exemplified by MD-PhD student Jason Miller, who is fighting to end the unthinkable genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.
  • • The University as a whole is praised as a powerhouse among its peers by the National Institutes of Health, which awarded it the fourth largest amount of research support in 2005, and is contributing more than $100 million over the next five years to speed the transfer of scientific breakthroughs to benefit humanity.

UCSF 101 Related Features

Alma Sisco-Smith: Making UCSF a Better Place

Center for Health and Community: Addressing Issues that Affect Public Health

Elizabeth Fair: Making a Greater Impact in Global Health

Kavita Mishra: Following Her Family's Footsteps into Medicine

UCSF Plays Significant Role in Stem Cell Research

Jim Wells: Helping to Fill the Drug Discovery Pipeline

Osher Center for Integrative Medicine: Leading the Health Care Revolution

UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center: 'Winning the War' on Breast Cancer

Photo/Christine Jegan