University of California, San Francisco

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University of California, San Francisco

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is one of the world's leading centers of health sciences research, patient care, and education. UCSF's medical, pharmacy

Pharmacy

Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemistrys, and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of medication....
, dental

Dentistry

Nursing

Graduate school

A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees, such as Doctorate with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous Undergraduate education degree....
s are among the top health science professional school

Professional school

Professional school may refer to:*Business school*Dental school*Journalism school*Law school*Library school*Medical school*Public policy school...
s in the world. The UCSF Medical Center is consistently ranked among the top 10 hospitals in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
by U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report

U.S. News & World Report is an influential United States newsmagazine published in Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek, it was for many years a leading news weekly, although it focused more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories....
.

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Encyclopedia

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is one of the world's leading centers of health sciences research, patient care, and education. UCSF's medical, pharmacy

Pharmacy

Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemistrys, and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of medication....
, dental

Dentistry

Nursing

Graduate school

Professional school

United States

Kidney

The kidneys are Organ that have numerous biological roles. Their primary role is to maintain the homeostasis balance of bodily fluids by filtering and secreting Metabolomics#Metabolitess and minerals from the blood and excreting them, along with water , as urine....
and liver

Liver

The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals; it has a wide range of functions, a few of which are detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion....
transplant, neurosurgery

Neurosurgery

Neurosurgery is the surgery discipline focused on treating those central nervous system, peripheral nervous system and spinal column diseases amenable to surgical intervention....
, neurology

Neurology

Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the Central nervous system, Peripheral nervous system, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and...
, oncology

Oncology

Oncology is the branch of medicine that studies tumors . A medical professional who practices oncology is an oncologist. The term originates from the Greek onkos , meaning bulk, mass, or tumor and the suffix -logy, meaning "study of"....
, ophthalmology, gene therapy

Gene therapy

Gene therapy is the insertion of genes into an individual's cell and Biological tissues to treat a disease, such as a hereditary disease in which a deleterious mutant allele is replaced with a functional one....
, women's health

Women's health

Women's health refers to health issues specific to human female anatomy. These often relate to structures such as female genitalia and breasts or to conditions caused by hormones specific to, or most notable in, females....
, fetal surgery

Fetal surgery

"Fetal surgery" covers a broad range of surgical techniques used in treatment of birth defectss where the fetus is operated on while still in the pregnant uterus....
, pediatrics

Pediatrics

Internal medicine

Internal Medicine is the medical specialty concerned with the diagnosis, management and nonsurgical treatment of unusual or serious diseases. In North America, specialists in internal medicine are commonly called, "Internists." Elsewhere, especially in Commonwealth of Nations nations, such specialists are often called Physicians....
. UCSF also has the nation's leading HIV/AIDS treatment and research centers. Collaborations with African Universities such as the University of Zimbabwe

University of Zimbabwe

The University of Zimbabwe in Harare, is the oldest and largest Universities of Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe. It was founded through a special relationship with the University of London and it opened its doors to its first students in 1952....
to deal with HIV have been established. UCSF should not be confused with the Hastings College of the Law

University of California, Hastings College of the Law

University of California, Hastings College of the Law is a top tier law school located in the Civic Center of San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1878 by Serranus Clinton Hastings, the first Chief Justice of California, as the first law school of the University of California ....
, a separate institution of the University of California which is also located in San Francisco.

Founded in 1873, the mission of UCSF is to serve as a "public university dedicated to saving lives and improving health." Though one of the ten campuses of the University of California

University of California

The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University system and the California Community Colleges s...
, it is unique for being the only University of California campus dedicated solely to graduate education, and this in health and biomedical sciences. UCSF has developed a reputation for unique interdisciplinary collaboration between the health science disciplines which has led to some of the most important discoveries in the biosciences. The graduate-focused environment of UCSF, its relatively small size, and its culture of collaboration allows for a flexibility to translate new discoveries into new treatments hard to find even at many of the world's other top medical centers.

History

UCSF traces its history to Dr. Hugh H. Toland, a South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a U.S. state in the Southern United States of the United States. It borders Georgia to the south and North Carolina to the north....
surgeon who found great success and wealth after moving to San Francisco in 1852. A previous school, the Cooper Medical College of the University of Pacific (founded 1858), entered a period of uncertainty in 1862 when its founder, Dr. Elias Samuel Cooper, passed away. In 1864, Toland founded a new medical school, Toland Medical College, and the faculty of Cooper Medical College chose to suspend operations and join the new school.

The University of California

University of California

The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University system and the California Community Colleges s...
was founded in 1868, and by 1870 Toland Medical School began negotiating an affiliation with the new public university. Meanwhile, some faculty of Toland Medical School elected to reopen the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, which would later become Stanford University School of Medicine

Stanford University School of Medicine

Stanford University School of Medicine is a world renowned medical school affiliated with Stanford University and is located at Stanford University Medical Center in Stanford, California....
. Negotiations between the Toland and the UC were complicated by Toland's demand that the medical school continue to bear his name, which he finally conceded. In March 1873, the trustee

Trustee

Trustee is a legal term that refers to a holder of property on behalf of a beneficiary . A Trust law can be set up either to benefit particular persons, or for any Charitable trust : typical examples are a testamentary trust for the testator's children and family, a pension trust , and a charitable trust....
s of Toland Medical College deeded it to the Regents of the University of California

Regents of the University of California

The Regents of the University of California make up the governing board of the University of California. The Board has 26 full members:* The majority are appointed by the Governor of California for 12-year terms....
, and it became "The Medical Department of the University of California." On September 15, 1874, the school opened its doors to female students. UCSF also has it's own fully functional police department, which carries out policing duties for it's two major campuses as well as all sattelite sites within the city and in South San Francisco.

Campus

UCSF operates four major campus sites within the city of San Francisco, as well as numerous other minor sites scattered through San Francisco and the Bay Area.

Parnassus

Parnassus serves as the main campus and includes the 600 bed UCSF Medical Center, Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute

Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute

The Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute is part of the Psychiatry Department at UCSF, one of the most highly regarded medical universities in the United States....
, the schools of Dentistry, Medicine and Nursing, the Children's Hospital, and research labs. It also houses the UCSF neurology outpatient practice that serves as a referral center of most of Northern California and Reno Nevada.

UCSF's Beckman Vision Center is also located at the Parnassus campus. It is a center for the diagnosis, treatment and research of all areas of eye

Eye

Eyes are Organ that detect light, and send signals along the optic nerve to the visual system and other areas of the brain. Complex optical systems with resolving power have come in ten fundamentally different forms, and 96% of animal species possess a complex optical system....
care, including vision correction surgery

Eye surgery

Eye surgery, also known as orogolomistician surgery or ocular surgery, is surgery performed on the eye or its adnexa, typically by an ophthalmologist....
.

Also located on the Parnassus campus is the UCSF Fetal Treatment Center

University of California, San Francisco Fetal Treatment Center

The Fetal Treatment Center at the University of California, San Francisco is a multidisciplinary care center dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment, and long-term follow-up of fetal birth defects....
, multidisciplinary care center dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment, and long-term follow-up of fetal birth defects.

Mission Bay

UCSF's Mission Bay Campus is the largest ongoing biomedical construction project in the world. The Mission Bay campus, opened in 2003 with construction still ongoing, contains additional research space and facilities to foster biotechnology and life sciences companies. It will double the size of UCSF's research enterprise over the next 10 years. The biotechnology company Genentech

Genentech

Genentech Inc. , a composite of Genetic Engineering Technology, Inc., is a leading biotechnology corporation, which was founded in 1976 by venture capitalist Robert A....
contributed $50 million toward construction of a building as part of a settlement

Genentech

Genentech Inc. , a composite of Genetic Engineering Technology, Inc., is a leading biotechnology corporation, which was founded in 1976 by venture capitalist Robert A....
regarding alleged theft of UCSF technology several decades earlier. Also located on the Mission Bay campus, the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Hall was designed by César Pelli

César Pelli

C?sar Pelli is an Argentine architect known for designing some of the world's tallest buildings and other major urban landmarks. His designs are known for their curved facades and metallic elements....
and opened in February 2004. The building is named in honor of Arthur Rock

Arthur Rock

Arthur Rock is an United States venture capitalist of Silicon Valley, California. He was an early investor in major firms including Intel, Apple Computer, Scientific Data Systems and Teledyne....
and his wife, who made a $25 million gift to the university. Byers Hall serves as the headquarters for the California Institute for Biomedical Research (QB3), a cooperative effort between the UC campuses at San Francisco, Berkeley, and Santa Cruz. The building is named after venture capitalist Brook Byers

Brook Byers

Brook Byers is a senior partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and the brother of Stanford University Professor Tom Byers.He is currently on the Board of Directors of nine companies, most recently joining OptiMedica,CardioDX, Genomic Health Incorporated, Five Prime Therapeutics, Pacific Biosciences, Inc....
, co-chair of UCSF's capital campaign that concluded in 2005 and raised over $1.6 billion. Additionally, the William J. Rutter Center, designed along with the adjacent 600-space parking structure by Ricardo Legorreta

Ricardo Legorreta

Ricardo Legorreta Vilchis is a Mexican architect. He was born in a taxi in Mexico City on May 1, 1931 . He studied architecture at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico....
, opened in October 2005 and contains a fitness and recreation center, swimming pools, student services, and conference facilities. The building is named in honor of William J. Rutter, former chairman of the university's Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics and co-founder of Chiron Corporation

Chiron Corporation

Chiron Corporation was a multinational biotechnology firm based in Emeryville, California that was acquired by Novartis on April 20 2006. It had offices and facilities in eighteen countries on five continents....
. Finally, a housing complex for 750 students and postdoctoral fellows and an 800-space parking garage also opened in late 2005. A fourth research building, designed by Rafael Viñoly

Rafael Viñoly

Rafael Vi?oly is an Uruguayan-born architect living in the United States....
and named the Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building, is currently under construction and expected to open in fall 2008. Two additional research buildings designated for neuroscience and cardiovascular research are currently in the planning and design phase. UCSF is also in the early stages of planning for a new specialty hospital focused on women, children, and cancer to be built at the Mission Bay campus and scheduled to open by the end of 2014.

Other

The Mount Zion campus contains UCSF's Comprehensive Cancer Center, its Women's Health Center, the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and outpatient resources. The San Francisco General Hospital

San Francisco General Hospital

San Francisco General Hospital is the main public hospital in San Francisco, California, and the only Level I Trauma Center serving San Francisco and northern San Mateo County....
campus cares for the indigent population of San Francisco and contains San Francisco's only Level I trauma center. The hospital itself is owned and operated by the city of San Francisco, but many of its doctors carry UCSF affiliation and maintain research laboratories at the hospital campus. The earliest cases of were discovered at SF General Hospital in the 1980s. To this day SF General Hospital has the world's leading .

UCSF is also affiliated with the San Francisco VA

United States Department of Veterans Affairs

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a government-run military veteran benefit system with United States Cabinet-level status. It is responsible for administering programs of veterans? benefits for veterans, their families, and survivors....
Hospital and the , a private biomedical research entity that has recently moved to a new building adjacent to UCSF's Mission Bay campus. The headquarters of the new California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine was created by California's Proposition 71 , which authorized it to issue $3 billion in grants, funded by bonds, over ten years for embryonic stem cell and other biomedical research....
are also located nearby in the Mission Bay neighborhood.

Academics

University of California, San Francisco is unique in that it performs only biomedical and patient-centered research in its Schools of Medicine

Medicine

Medicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, Pharmacy

Pharmacy

Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemistrys, and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of medication....
, Nursing

Nursing

Dentistry

Dentistry is the known evaluation, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases, disorders and conditions of the mouth, maxillofacial area and the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body....
, and the Graduate Division, and their hundreds of associated laboratories. The university is known for innovation in medical research, public service, and patient care. UCSF's faculty includes three Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize , established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literature, and Nobel Peace Prize in 1901....
winners, 31 members of the National Academy of Sciences

United States National Academy of Sciences

The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine."...
, 69 members of the Institute of Medicine

Institute of Medicine

The Institute of Medicine , one of the United States National Academies, is a Non-profit organization, non-governmental United States organization chartered in 1970 as a part of the United States National Academy of Sciences....
, and 30 members of the Academy of Arts and Sciences

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an organization dedicated to scholarship and the advancement of learning. It serves as a nationwide honor society for the United States....
. UCSF confers a number of degrees, including Master of Science

Master of Science

A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in a large number of countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences and occasionally in the social sciences....
, Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated Ph.D. or PhD for the Latin , meaning "teacher of philosophy", is an postgraduate academic degree awarded by University....
, Doctor of Pharmacy

Doctor of Pharmacy

A Doctor of Pharmacy is a doctorate first professional degree academic degree given to a person who has completed the highest level of academic study in the field of pharmacy....
, Doctor of Medicine

Doctor of Medicine

Doctor of Medicine is a Doctorate for physicians . The degree is granted from medical schools.It is a first professional degree in some countries, including the United States and Canada, although training is entered after obtaining at least 90 hours of university level work ....
, Doctor of Dental Surgery

Doctor of Dental Surgery

The Doctor of Dental Surgery degree is one of a few degrees that are awarded to dentists, the others being Doctor of Dental Medicine , Bachelor of Dentistry , Bachelor of Dental Surgery/Chirurgiae , Bachelor of Dental Science , Bachelor of Dental Medicine , Licentiate in Dental Surgery , Doctor of Dentistry , Candidate of Odontology , or Do...
, and Doctor of Physical Therapy

Doctor of Physical Therapy

The Doctor of Physical Therapy is a postbaccalaureate academic degree conferred upon successful completion of a doctoral level professional or postprofessional education program....
in a variety of fields.

Rankings

In 1995, the National Research Council

United States National Research Council

The National Research Council of the United States is the working arm of the United States National Academy of Sciences and the United States National Academy of Engineering, carrying out most of the studies done in their names....
ranked UCSF among the top ten schools in the U.S. in the subjects of biochemistry

Biochemistry

Biochemistry is the study of the chemistry processes in living organisms. It deals with the structure and function of cellular components such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other biomolecules....
and molecular biology

Molecular biology

Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecule level. The field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry....
(1st), genetics

Genetics

Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and Genetic variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding....
(2nd), cell

Cell biology

Cell biology is an list of academic disciplines that studies cell s ? their physiology properties, their structure, the organelles they contain, interactions with their environment, their cell cycle, cell division and apoptosis....
and developmental biology

Developmental biology

Developmental biology is the study of the process by which organisms grow and develop. Modern developmental biology studies the genetic control of cell growth, cellular differentiation and "morphogenesis," which is the process that gives rise to biological tissues, organ s and anatomy....
(3rd), neuroscience

Neuroscience

Neuroscience is a field devoted to the scientific study of the nervous system. The Society for Neuroscience was founded in 1969, but the study of the brain started a long time ago....
s (4th), physiology

Physiology

Physiology is the study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of living organisms. Physiology has traditionally been divided between plant physiology and animal and all living things physiology but the principles of physiology are universal, no matter what particular organism is being studied....
(5th), and biomedical engineering

Biomedical engineering

Biomedical engineering is the application of engineering principles and techniques to the medical field. It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to help improve patient health care and the quality of life of individuals....
(7th).

Overall, the campus ranked third in the nation in annual NIH

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research....
funding with $439 million in 2007.

The Academic Ranking of World Universities, published annually by Shanghai Jiaotong University, in 2008 ranks UCSF 3rd in the world for Life and Agricultural Sciences and 2nd in the world for Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy . The professional schools of the University of California, San Francisco are among the top in the nation, according to current (2006) US News and World Report graduate school and other rankings. The schools also rank at or near the top in research funding from the National Institutes of Health

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research....
. In addition, the UCSF Medical Center in 2007 was ranked by US News and World Report the 7th-best hospital in the nation, making it the highest-ranked medical center in northern California.

School of Medicine

In 2008, it ranked fifth overall among research-based medical schools by US News and World Report; the top in western United States. In rankings of medical schools for primary care, UCSF ranked 6th. It is one of only three medical schools that ranked top 10 in both research and primary care categories. In addition, the magazine ranked UCSF in the top 10 in seven of the eight medical school specialty programs assessed, including first in AIDS medical care, second in women's health, and second in internal medicine. The UCSF drug and alcohol abuse specialty ranks fifth nationally in the 2006 survey, while family medicine ranks 10th, pediatrics ninth, and geriatrics ninth.

In 2007, the School of Medicine was the third largest recipient of National Institutes of Health

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research....
research funds among all US medical schools, receiving awards totaling $373.1 million.

Biological Sciences, PhD Programs

US News and World Report in 2008 ranked UCSF seventh best overall. In that survey, UCSF ranked third in immunology

Immunology

Immunology is a broad branch of biomedical science science that covers the study of all aspects of the immune system in all organisms. It deals with, among other things, the physiology functioning of the immune system in states of both health and disease; malfunctions of the immune system in immunological disorders ; the physical, chemical an...
, fourth in biochemistry

Biochemistry

Biophysics

Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that employs and develops theories and methods of the physical sciences for the investigation of biology systems....
/structural biology

Structural biology

Structural biology is a branch of molecular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics concerned with the molecular structure of biological macromolecules, especially proteins and nucleic acids, how they acquire the structures they have, and how alterations in their structures affect their function....
, cell biology

Cell biology

Molecular biology

Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecule level. The field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry....
, sixth in genetics

Genetics

Genomics

Genomics is the study of the genomes of organisms. The field includes intensive efforts to determine the entire DNA sequence of organisms and fine-scale genetic mapping efforts....
/bioinformatics

Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics is the application of information technology to the field of molecular biology. The term bioinformatics was coined by Paulien Hogeweg in 1978 for the study of informatic processes in biotic systems....
and neuroscience

Neuroscience

Microbiology

Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are unicellular or cell-cluster microscopic organisms. This includes eukaryote such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes, which are bacteria and archaea....
.

School of Nursing

In 2008, US News and World Report ranked the UCSF graduate programs in nursing

Nursing

Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the detail-oriented care of individuals, family, and community in attaining, maintaining, and recovering optimal health and functioning....
as second in the nation. UCSF ranked in the top 10 in all seven of the rated nursing specialties, including first for training adult/medical-surgical nurses and second for its adult nurse practitioner

Nurse practitioner

A Nurse Practitioner is a registered nurse who has completed specific advanced nursing education and training in the diagnosis and management of common as well as complex medical conditions....
, family nurse practitioner, and psychiatric

Psychiatry

Psychiatry is a Medicine Specialty devoted to the Treatment of mental disorders, Biomedical research and Prevention of mental disorder. The term was first coined by the German physician Johann Christian Reil in 1808....
/mental health

Mental health

Mental health is a term used to describe either a level of cognition or emotional Quality of life or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychol...
programs. The pediatric nurse practitioner specialty ranked fifth nationally, while the gerontology/geriatrics and nursing service administration programs ranked seventh.

The School of Nursing in 2007 ranked first nationally in total NIH research funds with $13.8 million.

School of Pharmacy

The UCSF School of Pharmacy ranked as the top in the US, according to a 2002 survey published in The Annals of Pharmacotherapy, which weighed key criteria, including funding for research and the frequency of scientific publications by faculty, that are not considered in other rankings.

In 2008, US News and World Report ranked the UCSF School of Pharmacy number one in its "America's Best Graduate Schools" edition.

In 2007, the School of Pharmacy ranked first in NIH research funding among all US pharmacy schools, receiving awards totaling $19.6 million.

School of Dentistry

The School of Dentistry in 2007 ranked first among all dental schools in NIH research funding. It received awards totaling $18.3 million from the NIH.

UCSF Medical Center

In 2007, US News and World Report named the UCSF Medical Center

UCSF Medical Center

The UCSF Medical Center is a world renowned hospital in research and teaching hospital in San Francisco, California, California. It is one of the leading hospitals in the United States and with the UCSF School of Medicine has been the site of various breakthroughs in all specialities of medicine....
the 7th-best hospital in the nation, making it the highest-ranked medical center in Northern California. Among pediatric care centers, UCSF Children's Hospital ranked no. 16 — among the highest-rated children's medical service in California.

In the magazine's "America's Best Hospitals" survey, the UCSF Medical Center ranked best in Northern California — as well as among the best in the nation — in the following specialties: endocrinology

Endocrinology

Endocrinology is a branch of medicine dealing with disorder of the endocrine system and its specific secretions called hormones....
, neurology

Neurology

Neurosurgery

Neurosurgery is the surgery discipline focused on treating those central nervous system, peripheral nervous system and spinal column diseases amenable to surgical intervention....
; gynecology; cancer

Cancer

Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cell display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis . These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, do not invade or metastasize....
; kidney disease; ophthalmology

Ophthalmology

Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine which deals with the Eye diseases and Eye surgery of the visual pathways, including the eye, brain, and areas surrounding the eye, such as the lacrimal system and eyelids....
; respiratory disorders; rheumatology

Rheumatology

Rheumatology is a sub-specialty in internal medicine and pediatrics, devoted to the diagnosis and therapy of rheumatic diseases. Rheumatologists mainly deal with clinical problems involving joints, soft tissues and allied conditions of connective tissues....
; urology

Urology

Urology is the surgical specialty that focuses on the urinary tracts of males and females, and on the reproductive system of males. Medical professionals specializing in the field of urology are called urologists and are trained to diagnose, treat, and manage patients with urological disorders....
; digestive disorders; ear, nose, and throat

Otolaryngology

Otolaryngology is the branch of medicine that specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of ear, nose, throat, and head and neck disorders. The full name of the specialty is otolaryngology-head and neck surgery. Practitioners are called otolaryngologists-head and neck surgeons, or sometimes otorhinolaryngologists ....
; psychiatry

Psychiatry

Cardiology

Cardiology is a subspecialty of internal medicine dealing with disorders of the heart and blood vessels. The field includes diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease and electrophysiology....
and heart surgery; and pediatrics

Pediatrics

Differences between adult and pediatric medicinePediatrics differs from adult medicine in many respects. The obvious body size differences are paralleled by maturational changes....
.

In San Francisco Magazine's 2003 survey of the "Best Doctors" in the Bay Area, 55 percent of those honored were UCSF faculty.

Distinctions

First to discover that normal cellular genes can be converted to cancer genes (Nobel Prize in Medicine, J. Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus, 1989)
First to discover (together with Stanford) the techniques of recombinant DNA, the seminal step in the creation of the biotechnology industry
First to discover the precise recombinant DNA techniques that led to the creation of a hepatitis B vaccine
First to perform a successful in-utero fetal surgery
Fetal surgery

"Fetal surgery" covers a broad range of surgical techniques used in treatment of birth defectss where the fetus is operated on while still in the pregnant uterus....
(Michael R. Harrison
Michael R. Harrison

Michael R. Harrison, M.D. served as division chief in Pediatric Surgery at the Children?s Hospital at the University of California, San Francisco for over 20 years, where he established the first Fetal Treatment Center in the U.S....
)
First to clone an insulin gene into bacteria, leading to the mass production of recombinant human insulin to treat diabetes
First to synthesize human growth hormone and clone into bacteria, setting the stage for genetically engineered human growth hormone
First to develop prenatal tests for sickle cell anemia and thalassemia
First to train pharmacists as drug therapy specialists
First to establish special care units for AIDS patients and among the first to identify HIV as the causative agent of the disease
First to discover prion
Prion

A prion is an infectious disease that is comprised entirely of a reproduction, mis-folded protein. The mis-folded form of the prion protein has been implicated in a number of diseases in a variety of mammals, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans....
s, a unique type of infectious agent responsible for a variety of neurodegenerative diseases (Nobel Prize in Medicine, Stanley B. Prusiner
Stanley B. Prusiner

Stanley Ben Prusiner is an American Neurology and Biochemistry. Currently the director of the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases at University of California, San Francisco , Prusiner discovered prions, a class of Infection Biological reproduction pathogens primarily or solely composed of protein....
, 1997)
First to develop catheter ablation therapy for tachycardia, which cures "racing" hearts without surgery
First university west of the Mississippi to offer a doctoral degree in nursing
First to discover that missing pulmonary surfactant
Pulmonary surfactant

Pulmonary surfactant is a surface-active lipoprotein complex formed by type II Pulmonary alveolus. The proteins and lipids that comprise surfactant have both a hydrophilic region and a hydrophobic region....
s are the culprit in the death of newborns with respiratory distress syndrome
Infant respiratory distress syndrome

Infant respiratory distress syndrome , also called neonatal respiratory distress syndrome or respiratory distress syndrome of newborn, previously called hyaline membrane disease, is a syndrome caused in premature birth infants by developmental insufficiency of Pulmonary surfactant production and structural immaturity in the...
; first to develop a synthetic substitute for it, reducing infant death rates significantly
With a work force of 18,600 people and annual economic impact of $2 billion, UCSF is San Francisco's second largest employer

Noted alumni/faculty

Andy Baldwin - bachelor for the tenth season of The Bachelor
J. Michael Bishop
J. Michael Bishop

John Michael Bishop is an United States immunologist and microbiologist who won the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He currently serves as an active faculty member and chancellor at the ....
- UCSF Chancellor. Nobel
Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize , established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literature, and Nobel Peace Prize in 1901....
laureate in Medicine (1989), worked to discover the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes
Elizabeth Blackburn
Elizabeth Blackburn

Elizabeth Helen Blackburn Royal Society is an Australia-born United States biologist at the University of California, San Francisco , who studies the telomere, a structure at the end of chromosomes which protects the chromosome....
, discoverer of the ribonucleoprotein
Ribonucleoprotein

Ribonucleoprotein is a nucleoprotein that contains RNA, i.e. it is an association that combines ribonucleic acid and protein together. A few examples are known like the ribosome, the enzyme telomerase and small nuclear RNPs which are implicated in pre-mRNA splicing and are among the main components of the nucleolus....
enzyme
Enzyme

Enzymes are biomolecules that catalysis chemical reactions. Almost all enzymes are proteins. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called Substrate , and the enzyme converts them into different molecules, the products....
, telomerase
Telomerase

Telomerase is an enzyme that adds specific DNA sequence repeats to the 3' end of DNA strands in the telomere regions, which are found at the ends of eukaryote chromosomes....
. Appointed a member of the President's Council on Bioethics in 2001 and fired in February 2004, reportedly for her public disagreements and political differences with Council chair Leon Kass
Leon Kass

Leon Richard Kass is an United States physician, educator, and public intellectual, best known as an opponent of human cloning, embryonic stem cell research, and euthanasia; as a critic of unrestrained technological progress; and for his controversial tenure as chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics from 2001 to 2005....
and the Bush Administration, particularly on the issue of therapeutic cloning.
Richard Carmona
Richard Carmona

Richard Henry Carmona is an American physician and public health administrator. He was a Vice admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as the seventeenth Surgeon General of the United States....
- former Surgeon General of the United States
Surgeon General of the United States

The Surgeon General of the United States is the operational head of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the Federal government of the United States....
John Clements, first to isolate surfactant
Pulmonary surfactant

Pulmonary surfactant is a surface-active lipoprotein complex formed by type II Pulmonary alveolus. The proteins and lipids that comprise surfactant have both a hydrophilic region and a hydrophobic region....
and to develop it artificially
Haile T. Debas, former UCSF Chancellor; former Dean, School of Medicine; founding Executive Director, Department of Global Health Sciences
Richard Feachem
Richard Feachem

Sir Richard George Andrew Feachem, Order of the British Empire, FREng is Professor of Global Health at both the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of California, Berkeley, and Director of the at UCSF Global Health Sciences....
, founding Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (2002-2007)
Julie Gerberding
Julie Gerberding

File:JGerberding cdc photo.jpgJulie Louise Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H. , an infectious disease expert, is the previous director of the Centers for Disease Control and administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry , having assumed the positions on July 3, 2002....
- Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is an agency of the United States United States Department of Health and Human Services based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States adjacent to the campus of Emory University and northeast of downtown Atlanta....
(CDC)
Stanton Glantz
Stanton Glantz

Stanton Arnold Glantz, Ph.D. is Professor of Medicine , American Legacy Foundation Distinguished Professor of Tobacco Control, and Director of the at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine....
, regarded as the Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader is an American attorney at law, author, lecturer, political activism, and perennial candidate for presidency as an independent candidate for President of the United States in United States presidential election, 2004 and United States presidential election, 2008, and a Green Party candidate in 1996 and 2000....
of the anti-big-tobacco movement
David Kessler
David Aaron Kessler

David Aaron Kessler is an American pediatrician, lawyer, author, and Administration . He was the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration from November 8, 1990 to February 28, 1997....
- former dean of the UCSF School of Medicine and Yale University School of Medicine, and former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is an Government agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is responsible for regulating and supervising the safety of foods, dietary supplements, Medications, vaccines, Biopharmaceutical, blood transfusion, medical devices, Electromagnetic radiation-emitting devices, veteri...
in the Clinton Administration
Peter Kollman
Peter Kollman

Peter Andrew Kollman was a professor of chemistry and pharmaceutical chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco.He is known for his work in computational chemistry, molecular modeling and bioinformatics, especially for his role in the development of the AMBER force field and molecular dynamics software package....
- developer of the AMBER
Amber

Amber is fossil tree resin, which is appreciated for its color and beauty. Good quality amber is used for the manufacture of ornamental objects and jewelry....
force field
Force field (chemistry)

In the context of molecular mechanics, a force field refers to the potential function and parameter sets used to describe the potential energy of a system of particles ....
in molecular dynamics
Molecular dynamics

Molecular dynamics is a form of computer simulation in which atoms and molecules are allowed to interact for a period of time by approximations of known physics,...
simulation
Arthur Lander
Arthur Lander

Arthur D. Lander, M.D., Ph.D. is Chair of the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology at the University of California, Irvine.He was born in Brooklyn, New York and is an alumnus of John Dewey High School there....
, M.D. Ph.D.., Developmental biologist at University of California, Irvine
University of California, Irvine

The University of California, Irvine is a public university coeducational research university founded in 1965, situated in Irvine, California....
Jay Levy, who, along with Robert Gallo
Robert Gallo

Robert Charles Gallo is a U.S. biomedical researcher. He is best known for his co-discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus , the pathogen responsible for the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome , and he has been a major contributor to subsequent HIV research....
at the National Cancer Institute
National Cancer Institute

The National Cancer Institute is part of the United States Federal government's National Institutes of Health. The NCI is a federally funded research and development center, one of eight agencies that compose the United States Public Health Service in the United States Department of Health and Human Services....
and Luc Montagnier
Luc Montagnier

Luc Montagnier is a France virology and joint recipient with Fran?oise Barr?-Sinoussi and Harald zur Hausen of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine....
at the Pasteur Institute
Pasteur Institute

The Pasteur Institute is a France non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, its founder and first director, who had successfully developed the first antirabies serum in 1885....
, was among the first to identify and isolate HIV
HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that can lead to AIDS , a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections....
as the causative agent in AIDS
AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the HIV ....
Michael Merzenich
Michael Merzenich

Michael M. Merzenich is a professor emeritus neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco. His contributions to the field are numerous....
-Professor emeritus neuroscientist
Neuroscientist

A neuroscientist is an individual who studies the science field of neuroscience or any of its related sub-fields. Neuroscience as a distinct discipline separate from anatomy, neurology, physiology, psychology, or psychiatry is fairly recent, aided in large part by the advent of newer, faster computing methods and neuroimaging techniques....
-Brain plasticity research, Basic and clinical sciences of hearing pioneer- CEO Scientific Learning, Posit Science
Rita Ng - Miss California
Miss California

For the state pageant affiliated with Miss USA, see Miss California USAThe Miss California competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of California in the Miss America pageant....
2000, 2nd runner up
Thomas Novotny, former Assistant Surgeon General
Surgeon General of the United States

The Surgeon General of the United States is the operational head of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the Federal government of the United States....
Dean Ornish
Dean Ornish

Dean Michael Ocean Ornish, M.D., is president and founder of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, as well as Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco....
, who first established that coronary artery disease could be reversed with lifestyle changes alone
Stanley Prusiner - Nobel laureate in Medicine (1997), discovered and described prions
Steve Schroeder
Steve Schroeder

Steven A. Schroeder is Distinguished Professor of Health and Health Care at the University of California, San Francisco . He served as the President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation from 1990 to 2002....
- Former CEO, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the United States' largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care....
Harold Varmus - Nobel laureate in Medicine (1989), worked to discover the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes. Also served as Director of the NIH in the Clinton Administration, and currently as president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is a cancer treatment and research institution founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital....
Paul Volberding, whose pioneering work in the early days of the AIDS
AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the HIV ....
pandemic was noted in Randy Shilts
Randy Shilts

Randy Shilts was a pioneering gay American journalist and author. He worked as a reporter for both The Advocate and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as for San Francisco Bay Area television stations....
' book And the Band Played On
And the Band Played On

And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic is a best-selling work of nonfiction written by San Francisco Chronicle journalist Randy Shilts published in 1987....
Michael R. Harrison
Michael R. Harrison

Michael R. Harrison, M.D. served as division chief in Pediatric Surgery at the Children?s Hospital at the University of California, San Francisco for over 20 years, where he established the first Fetal Treatment Center in the U.S....
- developed the initial techniques for fetal surgery
Fetal surgery

"Fetal surgery" covers a broad range of surgical techniques used in treatment of birth defectss where the fetus is operated on while still in the pregnant uterus....
and performed the first fetal surgery in 1981, and then went on to establish the UCSF Fetal Treatment Center, which was the first of its kind in the United States.

University of California, San Francisco

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