Dear Friends,

2008 has been a year of exciting advances at UC Davis Health System.

In education, we are proud of our medical students for pursuing excellence in the classroom, in their clerkships, and in our community.  For example, they scored significantly higher than the national average on last year’s Step 1 of the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination.  Also, they continue to reach out to underserved populations in our community through our five nationally-recognized student-run health clinics. In addition, it is wonderful to see expansion of our class size to incorporate a new program (Rural-PRIME) that is paving the way for a cohort of physicians committed to meeting the needs of patients in rural areas.

We are also planning for the new Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, which is joining the School of Medicine on our growing Sacramento campus.  We are excited that the new school will train the next generation of nursing leaders by emphasizing interprofessionalism, scientific rigor, telehealth technologies, and cultural competency.

Through these efforts — as well as a possible new School of Public Health — we continue to train tomorrow’s health professionals to improve the health of our community.

In research, our funding surpassed $130 million, building on the success of our NIH-funded Clinical and Translational Science Center. The NIH also tapped UC Davis Health System to lead the NeuroTherapeutics Research Institute (NTRI) as part of its Roadmap for Medical Research.  NTRI’s goal is to develop targeted therapeutics for neurogenetic disorders.

We also became a collaborator in the National Children’s Study, the largest study of its kind in the world.  UC Davis faculty will be following pregnant mothers in Northern California and their children through age 18, compiling data that will guide the health of generations to come.

These milestones, combined with additional major grants in areas such as autism, health disparities, and stem cell research, are pushing UC Davis’ research mission — and our national reputation as a leading academic health center — to new heights.

In clinical care, we are expanding our capacity to serve our growing community with major capital improvements such as a new Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, a new Trauma Nursing Unit, a new Same-Day Surgery Center, the new Placer Center for Health, and our new 470,000-square-foot Surgery and Emergency Services Pavilion, which opens in early 2010.

In addition, we are leveraging the power of health technology at all levels.  For example, we are implementing our Electronic Medical Record, which is bringing more efficiency and supporting even higher quality throughout or health system. 

We are building a new $35-million facility — the California Telemedicine Resource Center — which will serve as a hub for University of California telehealth efforts.  Also, we are helping lead a $22-million grant from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to create the California Telehealth Network.  The project will link 300 patient care sites across the state using real-time technology to provide a national model of telemedicine.

Of course, we have prioritized our commitment to the most important aspects of our patient care mission, such as safety, quality, compassion, and expertise.  These are key differentiators for UC Davis Health System, making us the provider of choice for many patients and families in our community. 

And in community engagement, we are playing an important role as the leading academic health center in the capital of our country’s most populous state. Local, state and federal officials are looking to us to help advance the dialogue on important issues like health care reform and reducing health disparities.

For example, we continually emphasize the importance of health workforce diversity and reach out to schools and colleges to attract the best and brightest young minds to UC Davis.  Already, our medical student body reflects our state population in that it is majority-minority with a growing contingent of Latino students.

Furthermore, individuals throughout our health system community have become actively involved in efforts ranging from our nationally-recognized Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Standards program to frequent lectures and panels involving leading voices from industry, government, global health and more.

We continue to grow a strong campus community through increased collaborations with performing arts groups and we look forward to celebrating UC Davis’ Centennial in 2008-2009!

As we move forward, our health system community will continue to build on a strong and growing reputation for excellence in each of these areas, fulfilling our mission of “discovering and sharing knowledge to advance health.”

Sincerely,

Claire Pomeroy, M.D., M.B.A.
Vice Chancellor, Human Health Sciences
Dean, School of Medicine