Intersection of interests “a really exciting opportunity.”

Paul Volberding, UC San Francisco

Paul Volberding, M.D., one of the world’s leading experts on treatment for patients infected with HIV, the AIDS virus, became the new director of the AIDS Research Institute (ARI) at UC San Francisco on Feb. 13.

On the same date Volberding also became the first to fill a newly created position as director of research for UCSF Global Health Sciences, a University of California organized research unit (ORU) based at UCSF.

In a long UCSF career, Volberding early on became one of the first to become dedicated to caring for patients with AIDS in San Francisco, and he was a leader in early clinical trials to evaluate antiretroviral therapy in HIV infection. He has served for many years on the two major guidelines panels for antiretroviral therapy, addressing controversial issues such as the optimal timing of treatment in early HIV infection when no symptoms are evident.

To take on his new responsibilities Volberding has stepped down as chief of medical service at the UCSF-affiliated San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center (SFVAMC) and as vice chair in the department of medicine. He will retain a clinical affiliation with the SFVAMC.

Volberding succeeds John Greenspan, M.D., as ARI director. In announcing the change, Sam Hawgood, M.B.B.S., dean of the UCSF School of Medicine, and Jaime Sepúlveda, M.D., M.P.H., Dr.Sc., executive director of UCSF Global Health Sciences, noted that Greenspan “superbly led the ARI for nine years.”

As ARI director Volberding now oversees the coordination and integration of all HIV/AIDS activities at UCSF. As director of research for Global Health Sciences, he is responsible for leading, coordinating, and integrating all of the ORU’s research activities.

Volberding will continue to serve as the co-director of the Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) at UCSF and the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, and as director of global health for the UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI).

“The change allows me to devote time to what I have most loved to do academically throughout my career, and to try and increase the collaboration between two large communities,” Volberding said. “I see it as a really exciting opportunity. The nature of the HIV epidemic and research on HIV is increasingly global. There are excellent people doing work abroad in HIV, but also many people addressing other global public health issues.

“I look forward to working with Jaime Sepúlveda — whom I have known for many years — to see what these two communities can learn from one another, appreciating that there already is overlap between them.

“The challenge of working across many different sites is one that I have been accustomed to while working on HIV. The challenge now becomes bigger, but it is one that I think is manageable.”

Early in his UCSF career Volberding worked as a research fellow in the virology laboratory of Jay Levy, M.D., later a co-discoverer of HIV. At UCSF-affiliated San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) Volberding established a groundbreaking model for AIDS patient care, research and professional education — the Positive Health Program — and served as director for 20 years.

In 2001, Volberding moved to the SFVAMC, which he refers to as a model for high-quality, comprehensive patient care and for excellent educational programs. As chair of the SFVAMC NCIRE board of directors, Volberding has been an advocate of sharing medical data across systems to further research.

“There is a very deeply engrained medical records system at the VA, and it has become a model for demonstrating how that kind of data base can be used for medical research,” he said. A recent study led by SFVAMC researchers that uncovered potential side effects of tenofovir treatment of HIV is a prime example, Volberding said.

Volberding is married to another UCSF faculty member, Molly Cooke, M.D., a professor of medicine and a leading medical educator at UCSF. Volberding and Cooke began battling HIV during the first days of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco three decades ago, before the nature of the infection was even understood. While attaining leadership roles at UCSF, they also have raised three children in the city, all of whom now are adults successfully pursuing non-medical careers.

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Group to consider new financial, governance model for UCSF.

Susan Desmond-Hellmann, UC San Francisco

Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, M.D., M.P.H., today (Feb. 9) named members of the “Future of UCSF” working group, which is charged with exploring changes to UCSF’s current governance structure and financial relationship with the University of California system that could better ensure its longterm success.

UC Regent Chair Sherry Lansing and UC President Mark Yudof endorsed the membership consisting of leaders from UC, UCSF and business earlier this week.

As the chancellor proposed to UC Regents on Jan. 19, UCSF is seeking to maintain and increase its level of excellence and to continue to deliver on its critically important public mission as a leading academic medical center. To do so, UCSF must develop a financially sustainable business model that enables it to respond quickly and effectively to myriad challenges in the health care and biomedical marketplace and in higher education.

The working group will not be evaluating a privatization model or any other scenario under which UCSF would become completely independent of the UC system, Desmond-Hellmann emphasized in a Feb. 7 appointment letter to members of the new working group.

Instead, the group is being asked to propose options for a modified governance structure and financial relationship with the University of California system that preserves its important role in the 10-campus UC system and holds true to basic principles for openness, accountability and dedication to UCSF’s public mission.

For UCSF, that public mission ranges from university health professionals providing care at the safety-net San Francisco General Hospital – a partnership dating back to 1873 – to improving science education and teaching in nearly 90 percent of San Francisco Unified Schools, a Presidential award-winning national model of collaboration that began 25 years ago.

UCSF is a proud member of the UC system, Desmond-Hellmann said in the appointment letter. Similar to the other nine UC campuses, UCSF is facing substantial financial challenges. But she has made it clear that solutions that may be appropriate for the other UC campuses, such as raising tuition to cover costs, are not viable for UCSF given its unique circumstances within the system.

Unlike its sister UC campuses, UCSF has only graduate students, relies upon tuition for only 1 percent of its budget and state funding for only 4 percent, down 1 percent since last year. UCSF is dependent upon the highly competitive health sciences clinical and research fields for most of the other 80 percent of its $3.6 billion budget.

“Internally, the UCSF leadership team is taking action to reduce costs and increase efficiencies through an Operational Excellence initiative and is also examining new revenue growth opportunities,” Desmond-Hellmann said. “However, as UCSF is an integral part of the UC system, it is critical that those relationships also be reviewed.”

The group, which will begin its work immediately, will look at different business models to achieve financial autonomy from the UC system. UCSF will ensure that members of the campus community can provide input, the chancellor said in an email today to the University community.

Findings and recommendations from the working group will be presented to the chancellor in June and will inform her recommendations to the UC Board of Regents, which is planned for July 2012.

UCSF working group members

The “Future of UCSF” working group members, all of whom have agreed to serve, are:

Co-chairs:

• Sam Hawgood, M.B.B.S., dean, UCSF School of Medicine and vice chancellor of medical affairs
• Nathan Brostrom, executive vice president for Business Operations, UC Office of the President (UCOP)

Members:

• John “Jack” Stobo, M.D., senior vice president, Health Sciences and Services, UCOP
• Peter Taylor, executive vice president of Budget and Capital Resources, UCOP
• Leslie Tang Schilling, UC Regent and founder and director of Union Square Investments Company, a commercial real estate investment and management firm.
• William De La Peña, M.D., UC Regent and a professor of ophthalmology, and founder and medical director of the De La Peña Eye Clinics throughout Southern California
• John Plotts, senior vice chancellor, UCSF Finance and Administration
• Mark Laret, chief executive officer, UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital
• Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, Pharm.D., dean, UCSF School of Pharmacy
• Bob Newcomer, chair, UCSF Academic Senate
• Gene Block, chancellor, UCLA
• Bill Oberndorf, chair, UCSF Foundation and a founding partner of SPO Advisory Corp., which is an owner of a number of businesses in a broad range of industries with an asset orientation.
• Lloyd “Holly” Smith, M.D., former chair, professor and chair emeritus, UCSF Department of Medicine.
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Heather Young honored for contributions to education by nurse leaders association.

Heather Young, UC Davis

Heather M. Young, associate vice chancellor for nursing and founding dean at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis, was honored with the 2012 Best Practice Education Award by the Association of California Nurse Leaders.Young received the award at the 34th Annual Association of California Nurse Leaders Conference Awards Banquet Luncheon Feb. 7 in Rancho Mirage. The award recognizes a nurse for excellence in nursing leadership. Young was specifically recognized for her contributions in the area of nursing education.

The Association of California Nurse Leaders is a professional nonprofit organization that works to develop nurse leaders, advance professional practice, influence health policy and promote quality and patient safety. The organization serves as a voice for nurse leaders throughout the state.

“I am honored to receive this award from my colleagues throughout California,” Young said. “I look forward to many contributions of UC Davis nursing faculty to nursing education in our state.”

A nurse leader, educator and scientist, Young is a nationally recognized expert in gerontological nursing and rural health care. As the founding dean of the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, she leads the launch of the school at UC Davis, development of a thriving graduate program, and the recruitment of the founding team of faculty and staff.

Young was nominated for the award by Ginger Manss, 2012 president of the association and director of Cancer Services at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Stockton, Calif. In her nomination, Manss cited Young’s leadership and other contributions as deserving of recognition.

“Heather Young is a phenomenal nurse leader who is literally changing the landscape of higher nursing education in California,” Manss wrote.

In addition, Manss applauded Young’s collaborative work with others and participation in association events.

“She has spoken at Association of California Nurse Leader meetings throughout the state and most recently served as the keynote speaker for the California Student Nursing Association October 2011 Annual Conference,” Manss wrote. “She has worked tirelessly with other association leaders in providing leadership for the California Action Coalition work on the Institute of Medicine ‘Future of Nursing’ report by serving on the Executive Committee for this important work.”

The executive committee leads California efforts to implement the report’s recommendations. “The Future of Nursing” outlines a series of strategies to improve the nation’s health-care system and advance health through nursing, a goal that is consistent with the vision of the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. The California Regional Action Coalition is one of 36 statewide coalitions to pilot implementation of the report’s recommendations.

Historian of science Elizabeth Watkins will start in her new role April 1.

Elizabeth Watkins, UC San Francisco

UC San Francisco has named Elizabeth Watkins, an eclectic, prolific and versatile historian of science, as the dean of the Graduate Division, effective April 1.

Watkins, Ph.D., is director of graduate studies for the History of Health Sciences program, which she and her colleagues reopened after she arrived at UCSF in 2004, and a professor in the Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine.

“Her experience in working with researchers across multiple disciplines and in communicating with a diverse range of audiences will be invaluable in her capacity to lead our Graduate Division with its broad set of stakeholders,” said Jeffrey Bluestone, Ph.D., executive vice chancellor and provost at UCSF.

The Graduate Division offers top-ranked programs in the biological, biomedical, pharmaceutical, nursing, and social and behavioral sciences. UCSF graduate students may conduct research in basic, clinical, social, and behavioral sciences. Their work ultimately will help to ensure the health of humans, shape health care systems and influence public education about the prevention of disease. Competition is intense for acceptance into the Graduate Division, which admits 125 students from among 1,800 applicants.

The position as dean, vacated when Patricia Calarco, Ph.D., retired on Oct. 1 after a productive 40-year career at UCSF, has been filled in the interim by Joseph Castro, Ph.D., UCSF vice chancellor for student academic affairs.

“What appeals to me about this new job is being involved in something larger,” said Watkins, 49. “I’m passionate about education, especially graduate education.”

She is equally fervid about the subject of history.

“We need to know where we came from,” Watkins said. “Historians offer a unique perspective, which is particularly important for health policy so that decisions aren’t made just in terms of what has happened in the last few years. We need to understand how we got to where we are.”

People she meets outside the university are surprised to learn that history is taught at UCSF.

“Once I engage them in conversation, they become fascinated,” Watkins said. “It’s an easy sell. I see that as one of my challenges and goals: to raise the profile of all the graduate programs, both on campus and in the wider community. Research is really driven by our graduate students. They cross-pollinate between different labs, and their work will eventually give us the next generation of innovations.”

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Policy is part of UC’s commitment to cut tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke.

Grace Crickette

By Katherine Tam

Chancellors at all University of California campuses across the state will soon form steering committees to implement the university’s new smoke-free policy by 2014.

UC will ban both smoking and chewing tobacco on campuses, including parking lots and housing, as part of its commitment to cut tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke. The sale and advertising of tobacco products also will be prohibited.

“Smoking is a leading cause of preventable and premature death,” said Grace Crickette, chief risk officer. “Making all our campuses smoke-free provides a healthy environment for our students, faculty, staff, patients and visitors. It’s the right thing to do.”

A leader in strong health care practices, UC has already barred smoking at its five medical centers. The remaining campuses do not allow smoking inside buildings and within 20 to 25 feet of buildings.

All UC-sponsored medical plans offer tobacco cessation resources, programs and prescription nicotine replacement therapy to help employees quit smoking.

More than 585 other colleges and universities across the country have banned smoking.

In a letter this month, President Mark G. Yudof directed chancellors to assemble steering committees tasked with implementing the policy at their locations. Campuses will release additional details to their communities as they become available.

Enforcement will rely primarily on educating smokers about the dangers of lighting up and campus resources that can help them quit, Crickette said.

More than 440,000 people die from tobacco-related illnesses every year, making smoking the No. 1 cause of preventable death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Secondhand smoke causes nearly 50,000 deaths annually, primarily from lung cancer and heart disease.

About 10 percent of UC employees smoke, below the state average of 12 percent and the national average of nearly 20 percent, according to a report from the university’s smoking policy subcommittee. About 8 percent of UC students smoke, compared to the national average of 16 percent. Young adults are considered the most susceptible to becoming regular smokers.

The policy to snuff out smoking and tobacco use grew out of discussions at the university’s August 2011 occupational wellness forum and is part of the university’s larger wellness initiatives.

Some campuses were already thinking about going smoke-free and had begun researching the idea. A committee of occupational health and wellness specialists from different campuses was formed and crafted the systemwide policy.

Katherine Tam is a communications coordinator in internal communications at UC’s Office of the President.

After 46 years at UCSF, Mary Anne Koda-Kimble will retire at the end of June.

Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, Pharm.D., a well-loved dean at UCSF who led the School of Pharmacy to its enduring position as the premier such program in the United States, will retire at the end of June.

Koda-Kimble — whose 46 years at UCSF began as a Pharm.D. student — became in 1998 the first female dean of the top-ranked pharmacy school in the nation and the first leader from a clinical background. During her tenure as dean, she has left an impressive legacy, from strengthening and expanding laboratory-based research programs to breaking new ground in fostering programs that move research discoveries closer to clinical application.

Under her leadership, the school has hired young experts in physics, computation, bioengineering, clinical specialties, medication safety and clinical research. The number of full-time faculty has grown from 83 to 109, with 89 new hires.

“Mary Anne has made an extraordinary contribution to the field of pharmaceutical sciences, said UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, M.D., M.P.H. “She has played a key role in creating and building the field of clinical pharmacy, transforming pharmacists from pill-counters to professional experts on medications, interactions and personalized medicine. She also has hired an extraordinary faculty, made up of visionary scientists who are pushing the edge of therapeutic science. She will be deeply missed, not only for her tremendous vision and leadership, but for the personal touch she has brought to UCSF community, cultivating faculty and students alike to help them flourish.

“I am personally extremely grateful to her for postponing her retirement to help see the institution through the transition of my first years at UCSF. It clearly underscores her respect for the institution and the senior leadership team. Her service has been invaluable.”

[Related: Colleagues react to Koda-Kimble's legacy at UCSF]

Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, UC San Francisco

Koda-Kimble championed — along with School of Medicine leaders — the creation of a new Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences. This union helped meet the schools’ strategic goals of creating new research tools and working across the physical and biological sciences.

Koda-Kimble has overseen the accreditation and continued review of a revamped Pharm.D. curriculum. She, together with leaders in the School of Medicine, supported two, new, interdisciplinary, doctoral-degree programs, one in chemistry and chemical biology, and one in pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacogenomics. While at the helm, the school became an official partner with the UCSF/UC Berkeley Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering. She also created new interdisciplinary master’s degree programs in translational medicine and clinical research.

The UCSF School of Pharmacy has received more funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) than any other pharmacy school in the United States every year a since 1979. But during Koda-Kimble’s tenure as dean, funding from NIH grants has increased from more than $4 million in 1999 to more than $27 million.

“The research funding in all three of our departments, all led by strong chairs, has continually increased,” she says. “The funding numbers are a direct reflection on the quality of the science conducted here and its collaborative nature. Imagine — even with so many young new hires, the schools’ research funding has continued to rise. This speaks to an exceptional, brilliant faculty.”

“The school’s strides are absolutely those of the faculty supported by a talented staff,” she stresses. “My job has been to clear the path, facilitate the big thinking that results in great plans — all so the faculty and staff can march forward at the best possible pace. They are the pioneers.”

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UC-owned site chosen for the proposed consolidation of the lab’s biosciences programs.

Richmond Field Station architectural rendering

The University of California announced today (Jan. 23) that it has identified the Richmond Field Station as its preferred site for the proposed consolidation of the biosciences programs of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The University of California-owned site presents the best opportunity to solve the lab’s pressing space problems while allowing for long-term growth and maintaining the 80-year tradition of close cooperation with the UC Berkeley campus.

With this identification of a preferred site, the university will now move ahead with developing environmental impact studies and with the process of seeking final approval from the U.S. Department of Energy for the project.

“Each city, community and their developer partners presented extremely thoughtful and well-formulated proposals for us to consider, for which we are deeply grateful,” says Berkeley Lab Director Paul Alivisatos. “The communities of Albany, Alameda, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland and Richmond have been true partners in this process. While we can only pick one site, we hope that the new relationships we’ve made will continue to help us foster excitement in science. The enthusiasm is wonderful affirmation of the desire of the entire East Bay to be part of developing scientific solutions to some of the greatest challenges facing our society.”

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“We are strongly united with UC and our nine sister campuses.”

With members of her leadership team at her side, UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann delivers her presentation Jan. 19 to regents at UC Riverside.

UC San Francisco Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, M.D., M.P.H., proposed to the University of California Regents today (Jan. 19) that a working group be formed to help UCSF explore options to secure its financial future so it can realize its vision to become the world’s pre-eminent health sciences innovator.

She emphasized that UCSF must create a financially sustainable enterprise-wide business model, one of five goals she and her leadership team set as part of a three-year plan outlined by the chancellor in her October State of the University Address.

While raising tuition to address revenue shortfalls caused by continued cuts in the state’s funding of higher education aids UC campuses with larger undergraduate populations, “tuition increases barely make a dent in our budget,” Desmond-Hellmann told the Regents’ Committee on Educational Policy at UC Riverside.

Desmond-Hellmann said that she and her leadership team believe that UCSF needs to “make changes to UCSF’s business model to reach our aspirations of pre-eminence.” UCSF is looking at options that include:

• Evaluating new and enhanced growth opportunities for UCSF
• Examining UCSF’s financial relationship with the UC system
• Exploring alternative governance models

“We feel that we would like to operate with maximum flexibility to tap into expertise and operate in a way that allows us to respond to the changing environment,” she said with members of her leadership by her side.

The chancellor said the charge of the working group would be to explore alternate financial relationships between UCSF and the UC system, as well as alternate governance strategies that reflect UCSF’s status as the sole UC campus with a scope that is limited to graduate health sciences.

The chancellor recommended that she submit a list of proposed working group members to Regents Chair Sherry Lansing and UC President Mark Yudof and that the working group present its findings to regents in July 2012.

Lansing, who says she has an open mind to the proposal, recommended that UC should authorize UCSF to take the next step and thanked Desmond-Hellmann for her presentation.

“I don’t assume we have all the questions answered that’s why we need a working group to dig into the details,” Desmond-Hellmann said.

Simultaneously, UCSF will continue to focus on reducing its administrative and operational expenses – an Operational Excellence initiative launched in early 2010. UCSF will continue to explore ways to increase existing revenue, she said, and raise new revenue.

Outside the regents’ meeting, Desmond-Hellmann said UCSF has no interest in privatization. “Let me be clear, we are strongly united with UC and our nine sister campuses. What I am proposing is that we explore all options for creating a financial model that enables UCSF to best position itself to meet the challenges of a 21st century academic medical center.”

“What is at stake is our ability to deliver on our public mission and serve the people of California,” she said before the regents’ meeting. “To meet our public mission, we must aggressively confront our financial challenges. A successful and sustainable business model will allow us to strengthen our excellence in education, research and patient care.”

Ackowledging remarkable progress

In her first address to regents on the status of UCSF since becoming chancellor in August 2009, Desmond-Hellmann began with an overview of the campus. She cited the University’s remarkable progress in achieving its three-fold mission of training the next generation of health sciences leaders, leading scientific discovery as one of the top biomedical research institutions in the world and advancing health care as one of the top-10 medical centers in the nation.

UCSF received $532.8 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health in 2011, once again garnering the most funds among public institutions in the United States, second overall after private Johns Hopkins University.

UCSF’s tradition of excellence — one that began nearly 150 years ago with the founding of Toland Medical College — attracts outstanding supporters, Desmond-Hellmann said, as evidenced by the many leaders from industry, academia and business who serve on the UCSF Foundation Board, Chancellor’s Advisory Board and UCSF Medical Center Advisory Board. She said these ardent supporters have helped strengthen the University over the years, including supporting phenomenal growth at UCSF Mission Bay, where a new medical center is set to open in 2015.

Desmond-Hellmann also briefly discussed UCSF’s short-term action plan, which spells out five ambitious goals: to provide unparalleled care to patients, improve health through innovative science, attract and support the most talented and diverse trainees in the health sciences, and continue to be the workplace of choice for top-tier talent.

At the regents meeting, Desmond-Hellmann focused on the importance of achieving the fifth goal — to create a financially sustainable enterprise business model — to ensure the other four goals can be accomplished.

Taking the next steps

UCSF is already taking steps to find ways to boost revenue sources and achieve cost savings, Desmond-Hellmann said, through ongoing efforts being led by Senior Vice Chancellor John Plotts.

That work continues on many levels through Operational Excellence, an initiative aimed at improving the excellence and efficiency of key operational and administrative services while also reducing costs. The University is on track to meet its target of $50 million in annualized savings by June 2013, she said thanks to the hard work of more than 400 faculty and staff across UCSF who have created and helped implement streamlined practices across the organization.

As part of Operational Excellence, UCSF recently launched an electronic procurement system in collaboration with UC Berkeley and introduced an online expense reimbursement system. The University is also well underway in implementing budgeting and reporting solutions. In addition, UCSF built a shared Human Resources services organization and began piloting it earlier this month. By May 2012, the entire campus community of more than 20,000 employees is expected to be serviced by this new HR organization.

Desmond-Hellmann told the regents she expects one of the working group’s tasks to be exploring alternative governance strategies that would allow UCSF to benefit from the region’s considerable expertise in health care, biotech industry and business.

During her nearly three-year tenure as UCSF chancellor, Desmond-Hellmann has championed forging new industry partnerships to more quickly translate research discoveries for the benefit of patients. In recent years, UCSF has connected growing numbers of scientists with the resources and expertise of pharmaceutical, biotech and high-tech companies to move science and inventions closer to becoming drugs, therapeutics or products to improve health.

In the future, UCSF could find new revenue streams through efforts such as spinning off successful biotech companies or creating a joint venture for an outpatient pharmacy with a for-profit pharmaceutical company and exploring new opportunities on the technology front.

The chancellor noted that Genentech, Chiron and other biotech companies were created based on science that came from UCSF. “Company creation and innovation are part of our DNA,” she told the regents.

The chancellor said the purpose of the working group is to explore options that would strengthen UCSF financially and also leverage its position as a leading health sciences university with one of the country’s top medical centers. The working group is not designed to help UCSF forgo its status as a public university, she said, or discard the long-held tradition of shared governance through the segment of the UCSF faculty eligible to serve in the University of California Academic Senate.

In fact, the UCSF Academic Senate is working to give a greater voice to all faculty at UCSF and recently created a task force to carefully review membership. Currently, about half of UCSF’s faculty members are eligible to participate in the Senate. Newcomer said developing a new governance structure for UCSF would offer an opportunity to focus specifically on the interests and activities of the faculty who – unlike other UC campuses – are engaged solely in the health professions and basic and clinical scientific research.

“As we’ve thought about possible solutions, our guiding principles have been to achieve excellence, ensure accountability, remain committed to our public mission and respond quickly and efficiently to changes in our environment,” Desmond-Hellmann said.

Forecasting the financial future

The chancellor is proposing that bold, innovative and sustainable financial solutions be considered so that UCSF not only can survive, but can thrive in an era of dramatic changes in health care and advances in science.

She shared with the regents high-level results of a recent analysis, including a look at UCSF’s financial projections.

“We’ve developed our first-ever integrated financial plan – capital and operating budget assumptions across the entire University, not just the medical center,” Desmond-Hellmann said. “Like all campuses, UCSF is suffering from severe cutbacks and this project is our first step toward understanding the severity and the implications for our future.”

That financial forecast shows that, without intervention, UCSF’s future is at risk. UCSF’s projected expenses are expected to outpace revenues in the year 2015 due to rising costs for employee pension and benefits, the impact of health care reform, the opening of UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay and costs of making seismic upgrades to facilities.

“Costs are rising faster than revenues,” Desmond-Hellmann told the regents. “This is unsustainable.”

The chancellor also explained that UCSF is significantly different from its sister campuses in the UC system since it is the only University dedicated solely to graduate-level programs in the tuition increases an impractical financial solution for UCSF. The chancellor already is working on other fronts – including making a personal contribution of $1 million – to increase financial support to both graduate students and students enrolled in its four professional schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy health sciences.

Revenue sources for UCSF’s $3.86-billion budget come primarily from the clinical enterprise (50 percent) and grants to the research enterprise (29 percent), she explained.

“UCSF is heavily dependent on two funding sources: our medical center and grants,” Desmond-Hellmann said. “Eighty percent of our revenue comes from these two sources, which both exist in an extremely competitive landscape.”

Unlike the other UC campuses, UCSF has a very small student population (fewer than 3,000 students) and only 1 percent of UCSF’s revenues come from student tuition, she added. Despite the challenges ahead, Desmond-Hellmann remains optimistic that UCSF can hold onto its vision of advancing science and delivering solutions to the millions of people who await new and improved ways to detect, treat and prevent disease.

“This is an aspiration to push ourselves,” Desmond-Hellmann told regents. “What would make UCSF a leader, an inspiration for what a 21st century health sciences institution should look like.”

Deal will continue the system’s delivery of quality care to Anthem members.

Issued jointly by Anthem Blue Cross and UC Health

Santiago Muñoz

THOUSAND OAKS and OAKLAND – UC Health – the University of California’s five academic medical centers – and Anthem Blue Cross announced today (Jan. 17) that they have reached an agreement to continue the system’s delivery of quality care to Anthem members.

“UC Health welcomes the opportunity to partner with Anthem Blue Cross,” said Santiago Muñoz, chief strategy officer for UC health sciences and services. “UC Health is dedicated to providing the highest quality care. This agreement recognizes the important role academic medical centers play in educating physicians while serving as a springboard for developing strategies to improve care and reduce costs.”

Generally, health plans and medical providers negotiate rates at which providers will be reimbursed for providing medical care. In addition to UC Health, Anthem Blue Cross has recently completed negotiations with other health systems including Sutter Health and Stanford Hospital & Clinics.

“Our mission is to help people get and stay healthy,” said Pam Kehaly, president of Anthem Blue Cross. “We’re thrilled to continue our relationship with UC Health so our members can continue to have access to high quality health care from these well-respected institutions.”

As part of the agreement, rates will be tied to Anthem Blue Cross’s Quality Insights Hospital Incentive Program (Q-HIP^SM). This hospital quality program involves voluntary reporting of nationally vetted and recognized evidence-based quality indicators in three categories: patient safety, patient health outcomes and member satisfaction. In addition, the program incorporates quality metrics and pay-for-performance incentives for important patient safety initiatives, and its review process is transparent. The plan audits and externally validates the submitted hospital all-payer data, helping to ensure that the reporting hospital is promoting high quality and safe health care for all patients.

About Anthem Blue Cross
Anthem Blue Cross is the trade name of Blue Cross of California. Anthem Blue Cross and Anthem Blue Cross Life and Health Insurance Company are independent licensees of the Blue Cross Association. ®ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross name and symbol are registered marks of the Blue Cross Association. Additional information about Anthem Blue Cross and Anthem Blue Cross Life and Health Insurance Company is available at www.anthem.com. Also, follow Anthem on Twitter at www.twitter.com/healthjoinin, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HealthJoinIn or visit Anthem’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/healthjoinin.

About UC Health
University of California Health includes five academic medical centers – UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC San Diego and UC San Francisco – with 10 hospitals and 16 health professional schools on seven UC campuses. More information is available at http://health.universityofcalifornia.edu.

Media contacts
Darrel Ng, Darrel.Ng@WellPoint.com
(916) 208-7092
Public Relations Director
Anthem Blue Cross

UC Health
(510) 987-9200

The new medical center complements UCLA’s existing services.

Patients were moved Sunday from the nine-story Tower building that was part of the hospital to a new section.

The new UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica officially opened its doors on Sunday as 125 adult and pediatric patients were carefully transported into new hospital buildings on the Santa Monica campus, as well as into the existing Merle Norman Pavilion.

Teams of doctors, nurses and moving specialists transported patients to ensure they were safely and efficiently relocated to the new hospital.  The move followed months of extensive planning to prepare the hospital for licensing and occupancy, and to orchestrate the extremely detailed sequence of patient relocations.

Part of a systemwide rebuilding project, the new Santa Monica campus features the UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica; a branch of Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA; the Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital; and the UCLA Rape Treatment Center. The new main entrance to the campus has returned to its former location at 1250 16^thStreet.

The new campus complements existing, world-class services provided by UCLA Health System facilities that include Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Mattel Children’s Hospital, and more than 80 primary and specialty offices throughout greater Los Angeles.

“Every patient who comes to us deserves the best, and every one of them, when they leave us, should be an ambassador to tell others about the great care and service they received at UCLA,” said Dr. David Feinberg, president of UCLA Health System. “This wonderful new facility not only accommodates scientific and technical excellence, but also creates an environment that is healing.”

“Today’s move marks the final stage in the transformation of this hospital from a private community hospital to an academic-community hospital that delivers world-class UCLA care to every patient,” said Dr. James Atkinson, who oversaw the rebuilding project and serves as medical director at the Santa Monica campus.

He added that the campus will provide the full continuum of services, from neonatal intensive care to geriatric medicine, and serve as the inpatient home of UCLA’s highly regarded orthopaedic, geriatric and general medicine programs.

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Wolfgang Dillmann also named Helen M. Ranney Endowed Chair.

Wolfgang Dillmann, UC San Diego

Wolfgang H. Dillmann, M.D., has been selected as chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine. He has also been named the Helen M. Ranney Endowed Chair, the school’s first faculty-funded endowed chair, founded in 1991 in honor of the department’s second chair.

With nearly 470 full-time faculty members and more than 100 academic researchers, the Department of Medicine is one of the inaugural departments in the UC San Diego School of Medicine and the largest. Nationally recognized for research, teaching and clinical care in internal medicine in specialties ranging from arthritis and respiratory disease to hypertension and cancer, its internal medicine specialty training programs include 108 resident physicians, 83 ACGME fellows, and 131 postdoctoral research fellows. The department is also engaged in nearly 380 different biomedical research programs with funding awards totaling $113.6 million in fiscal year 2011.

Dillmann came to UC San Diego in 1979 as an assistant professor, moving up to associate and then full professor by 1987. He served as chief of the Endocrinology and Metabolism Division from 2005 to 2010, and as interim chair of the Department of Medicine since 2010. He is the fifth chair in the department’s 43-year history.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Gymnasium, Aschaffenburg in Germany and his M.D. degree in medicine from the University of Munich. He completed his internship at Mount Sinai Hospital, followed by residencies in medicine and endocrinology, both at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, the academic medical center associated with Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He began his career as an assistant professor there, and then served as an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota for two years before coming to San Diego.

His research interests in the laboratory include thyroid hormone action in the heart, as well as studies related to diabetic cardiomyopathy and the effects of excessive enzymatic protein glycosylation in cardiac myocytes and their influence on heart function. Dillmann’s lab also conducts studies related to the expression of specific heat shock proteins and protection of the heart against cardiac ischemia.

Dillmann is a member of the Association of American Physicians, the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. In the field of endocrinology and metabolism he is a member of the Endocrine Society, the American Thyroid Association, the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association and the International Society for Heart Research. He is past associate editor of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, past editorial board member of the Journal of Biological Chemistry and served as a member of the Cardiac Hypertrophy and Heart Failure NIH Study Section.

A year of protests, progress and medical breakthroughs.

UC Berkeley graduating senior Austin Whitney walks with aid of an exoskeleton.

Just as Time magazine named the Protester as its person of the year, so did unrest shape much of 2011 for the University of California.

Reverberations from January and February’s anti-Mubarek protests in Egypt were felt halfway around the world, as UC took emergency measures to evacuate 30 students, faculty and staff enrolled in a study abroad program and taking part in an archaeological dig.

Less than a year later, protest came much closer to home. The Occupy Wall Street movement — which UC experts analyzed early on — by November had grown into Occupy UC, fueled by student frustration over rising tuition and state disinvestment in public higher education. While nearly every UC campus had an Occupy UC presence, tensions escalated between protesters and police on the Berkeley and Davis campuses.  Scenes of officers wielding batons and pepper spray against students, prompted President Mark Yudof to reaffirm UC’s commitment to peaceful protest. UC’s response culminated with the naming of an investigatory task force, chaired by former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso.

The core issue behind Occupy UC — rising tuition as the result of ever-declining state support — colored events throughout 2011. In January, Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed state budget slashed $500 million from UC: a cut (which climbed to $650 million in the final budget, signed in June) that, for the first time, reduced state support below that paid by student in tuition.

As a result, UC Regents in July approved a 9.6 percent tuition increase for fall 2011, on top of an 8 percent increase approved the previous November. Year-end “trigger” cuts in state support slashed another $100 million from UC after state revenue fell below projections, but UC pledged to close the budget gap without additional tuition hikes.

The rising cost of education did not deter high school seniors and undergraduate transfers hoping to pursue a UC education. Fall 2011 undergraduate applications rose for the seventh straight year, numbering a record 142,235. Waitlists again were implemented at most campuses.

The gloom of the budget situation is always brightened at spring’s end with commencement. That joy was brighter still for a UC Berkeley senior who, against all odds, was able to walk in the commencement ceremony. Austin Whitney, who was paralyzed in a car wreck after graduating high school, took those precious steps thanks to an exoskeleton developed by a team of UC Berkeley engineers.

UC medical research helped many others live better this past year. Surgeons at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in March performed the first hand transplant in the western United States. (The recipient, Emily Fennell, will be waving from a float in the 2012 Rose Parade on Jan. 2.) In January, a UC Davis surgical team introduced a woman who in October 2010 received a new larynx — the second documented case of its kind in the world. Also in January, UC San Diego surgeons performed the first implant of a total artificial heart; and in September, a successful “domino” liver transplant at UC San Diego — a patient received a new organ and a second patient received the first patient’s liver — saved two lives.

Several campuses continued their pioneering work in medical robotics.  Robot-assisted surgeries for lobe removal to treat lung cancer, and for spinal implants, were performed at UC Irvine in March; UC San Francisco opened an automated hospital pharmacy in March; and UC Santa Cruz launched a new major in robotics engineering, open for enrollment in fall 2011.

Doctors at UC Davis Children’s Hospital helped one fortunate young girl simply live: The 8-year-old from rural Northern California became just the third person in the United States to recover from rabies without receiving the rabies vaccine.

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