Susan Desmond-Hellmann becomes social networking company’s second female director.

Susan Desmond-Hellmann, UC San Francisco

UC San Francisco Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, M.D, M.P.H., is joining Facebook’s board of directors.

The Menlo Park-based social networking company announced this week that Desmond-Hellmann was elected to the board.

“I’ve always been drawn to organizations that do groundbreaking work,” Desmond-Hellmann says. “Facebook has an ambitious mission and long-term vision of innovation that is transforming how people connect with one another. I’m proud to be part of a company that is serving such an important purpose in the world.”

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg welcomed her to the board.

“Sue has a great track record of building and managing a diverse set of organizations, so her insights will be valuable as we continue to expand into new areas,” Zuckerberg says.  “Her experience shaping public policy and operating public companies fits well with the rest of the board and will make us an even stronger company.”

The chancellor will serve alongside current board members Zuckerberg; Marc L. Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz; Erskine B. Bowles, president emeritus of University of North Carolina; James W. Breyer of Accel Partners; Donald E. Graham, chairman and CEO of The Washington Post Co.; Reed Hastings, chairman and CEO of Netflix; Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook; and Peter A. Thiel of Founders Fund.

Desmond-Hellmann also sits on the board of directors for Procter & Gamble, and she serves as a trustee for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a nonprofit biomedical research organization. Before taking the helm of UCSF in 2009, she was president of product development at the biotechnology pioneer, Genentech, where she was responsible for Genentech’s pre-clinical and clinical development, process research and development, business development and product portfolio management.

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Multimedia advertising campaign launched.

In the coming months, residents throughout Northern California will hear why UC San Francisco Medical Center is the place to come for the latest, most effective health care.

The medical center is launching its latest multimedia advertising campaign focused on the “pioneering care” that is only available at an academic medical center that rapidly turns the latest research from the bench, into treatment at the bedside.

“At UCSF, we attract world-class clinicians and researchers who work side-by-side to deliver care, every day, in a way that is unique throughout the region,” said Erika Smith, director of marketing for UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. “Our theme – Pioneering Care – illustrates that dynamic, in addition to the partnership between our clinicians and the patients who come to UCSF.”

The UCSF Medical Center, which includes the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, is ranked among the top hospitals nationally. As an academic medical center, it integrates patient care services with UCSF’s top-ranked research and education programs.

The consumer-focused advertising campaign is airing on network and cable television, and can be seen in the San Francisco Chronicle. Beginning next week, the message also will be carried on several online sites, including SFGate and WebMD, through commercials on National Public Radio, on local outdoor billboards and on UCSF.

Until recently, medical center marketing efforts primarily were targeted to referring physicians. However, with the advent of health care reform and in particular, consumer-directed health care, patients are more involved than ever in making decisions about their own care.

“Consumers are being held responsible for guiding the direction of their health care. There are multiple insurance and network choices, and we want consumers to know what UCSF offers and how we are different from other medical centers, so they can get the best care possible,” said Smith.

The ads feature some of UCSF’s top physicians, including Peter Carroll, M.D.; Margaret Tempero, M.D.; Larry Rand, M.D.; Mitchel Berger, M.D.; Thomas Vail, M.D.; John Roberts, M.D.; Jeffrey Olgin, M.D.; and ultimately, Nancy Ascher, M.D., and highlight a few of UCSF’s clinical areas of excellence.

In the narratives, UCSF doctors and their patients talk about a mutual quest for excellence in care and a shared involvement in making decisions about treatment options. Patients also comment on the supportive environment at UCSF – “from the receptionists, to the nurses, to the researchers and the doctors, everyone was first-rate.”

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David Vlahov will begin his two-year term in March.

David Vlahov, UC San Francisco

David Vlahov, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, dean of the UCSF School of Nursing, has been elected to the board of directors of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) as well as its nominating committee.

Votes were cast for the positions by member deans and directors of the nation’s nursing schools with baccalaureate and higher degree programs.

Vlahov, an epidemiologist who specializes in working with community partners to improve community health, is the first male dean of the UCSF School of Nursing. An expert in infectious diseases, substance abuse and mental health, he joined UCSF in 2011.

Vlahov has served as the senior vice president of research and director of the Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies at the New York Academy of Medicine. He is the founder and first president of the International Society for Urban Health. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2011, one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.

He will begin his new two-year AACN term in March. The organization represents more than 700 members schools of nursing at public and private institutions nationwide.

Read more about the AACN election results on the association’s website.

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Bruce Butler brings 30 years of experience in health care financing, managed care.

Bruce Butler

Bruce W. Butler has joined the University of California Office of the President’s Division of Health Sciences and Services as executive director of health care financing and operations.

A managed care and health care services executive, Butler most recently was executive director of underwriting and provider contracting for Presbyterian Health Plan, which covers more than 400,000 members in New Mexico. In this role he also served on the board of the New Mexico Health Insurance Alliance, which is transitioning to become the state’s health insurance exchange.

Prior to joining Presbyterian, Butler was a partner in the professional services firm Tatum LLC, where he had key roles in a variety of financial strategy, turnaround and payor relations engagements for health care delivery clients. His career has focused primarily on managed care and has included extensive work in HMO development, health information technology business development and the design and evaluation of alternative payor-provider reimbursement and risk transfer arrangements. He has an MBA from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University.

Butler will work closely with UC campuses and with Dr. John Stobo, UC senior vice president for health sciences and services, to address challenges associated with health care reform, development of the California Health Benefit Exchange and increasing financial pressures on UC Health.

“Bruce brings 30 years of experience in health care financing and managed care and will be a great asset to Health Sciences and Services,” Stobo said.

Mission Bay celebrates a decade of discovery.

A decade after opening its first research building at San Francisco’s Mission Bay, UCSF has far surpassed its ambitious vision for a campus that today is an epicenter for science, health and hope.

This year, UCSF celebrates a decade of discovery at Mission Bay – a milestone that represents both a scientific renaissance and a significant revitalization of a once-blighted area in San Francisco’s southeast sector.

Since breaking ground in 1999, the development of the $3 billion Mission Bay campus is considered the single most important endeavor that UCSF has undertaken in its nearly 150-year history.

It is a spectacular success story in San Francisco, the “city that knows how” to get things done. It is the largest development in the city, second only to the construction of Golden Gate Park. And it is one of the nation’s largest university expansions.

UCSF Mission Bay exemplifies the University’s ongoing quest to explore, examine and ultimately answer some of the most awe-inspiring and vexing questions of human health.

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Related links:

• Decade of discovery at UCSF Mission Bay
• City, UCSF celebrate 10 years of discovery, development at Mission Bay
• Scientific community at Mission Bay fosters research breakthroughs
• On Mission Bay’s 10th anniversary, hospital construction surges forward
• New innovators thrive at UCSF Mission Bay
• Slideshow: UCSF milestones at Mission Bay
• Slideshow: UCSF art and architecture at Mission Bay
• Video: Watch the Mission Bay celebration livestream
• Mission Bay by the numbers
• What’s your hope for the next 10 years in science?

UCSF to launch celebration Jan. 23.

Ten years ago, UC San Francisco opened the doors of its first research building at Mission Bay, launching a new bioscience community in a once-neglected area of the city.

A decade later, Mission Bay is a vibrant, integrated campus that’s home to three Nobel laureates and 2,500 UCSF faculty, clinicians, postdoctoral scholars and students, with another 1,000 in the surrounding area. With their colleagues at the Parnassus and Mount Zion campuses, these scientists and clinicians are breaking new ground in understanding disease and finding new ways to harness science to save lives.

The UCSF Mission Bay campus also is a growing ecosystem of entrepreneurs, pharmaceutical companies and venture capital firms that have spun out of the University of California or come to Mission Bay to be part of the innovation for which UCSF is increasingly known.

Together, they are a vital new asset for the city of San Francisco and the gold standard for bioscience centers worldwide.

UCSF will launch the celebration of this new campus on Wednesday, Jan. 23, with a news conference and reception in Genentech Hall.

Speakers will include UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, M.D., M.P.H.; San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee; former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown Jr.; Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom; former Gov. Gray Davis; Nobel laureate and UCSF Chancellor emeritus J. Michael Bishop, M.D.; Bayer Mission Bay site head Chris Haskell, Ph.D.; and Mark Laret, chief executive officer of the UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.

UCSF faculty, staff and students are welcome to attend the news conference honoring this milestone.

Mission Bay Anniversary Celebration
Date: Jan. 23, 2013
Location: Genentech Hall Atrium, Mission Bay
Time: 10 – 11 a.m.

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California Advanced Primary Care Institute launched this week.

Heather Young, UC Davis

Heather M. Young, associate vice chancellor for nursing at UC Davis and founding dean at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, joined more than a dozen health care leaders in San Jose Jan. 15 to launch the California Advanced Primary Care Institute (CAPCI), a multipronged effort to improve the appeal of primary care as a career choice for health professionals and also elevate the performance of primary care teams.

CAPCI emerged from a statewide consensus meeting in April 2012 led by the California Association of Physician Groups. The nonprofit foundation convened its first Steering Council meeting Jan. 15. Young was appointed to the steering council.

“I am pleased to be part of this group. In order to meet the increasing demand for primary care in California, it is essential we prepare a variety of health care professionals,” Young said. “We need nurses, physicians, physician assistants and other team members with advanced skills in understanding complex problems and generating solutions, understanding how health systems and health care works and how to improve quality, lead teams and deal with the business aspects of care.”

“Primary care is the cornerstone for all of California’s health care delivery systems and sets the foundation for every goal of health care reform,” said Wells Shoemaker, the medical director for the California Association of Physician Groups. “Sadly, California faces a serious erosion of primary care workforce at the same time that our state braces for a daunting bulge in chronic illnesses and the long awaited opportunity through health reform to serve millions of previously uninsured individuals and families.”

California’s primary care workforce is expected to shrink by 30 percent in the next five to eight years as a consequence of retiring professionals and fewer new clinicians choosing to work in primary care.

“If we are going to transform primary care to provide superb, patient-centered care to every Californian, we will need to fundamentally change our approach to training the people who work in primary care,” said physician Kevin Grumbach, a professor at the UCSF Department of Family and Community Medicine, and member of the CAPCI executive management committee. “This new coalition represents an unprecedented partnership between practice organizations and training institutions to equip the workforce for the innovative care models that will drive excellence in primary care throughout California.”

CAPCI received startup funding from the California HealthCare Foundation, The California Endowment, CAPG group contributions, and the California Academy of Family Practice.

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Matthew State will lead UCSF’s psychiatric programs.

Matthew State

Matthew State, M.D., Ph.D., a leading child psychiatrist and internationally recognized expert on the genetics and genomics of autism, Tourette syndrome and other neurodevelopmental syndromes, was recently named to lead UCSF’s psychiatric programs.

As the new chair of the Department of Psychiatry and director of the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, State will play a key role in integrating psychiatry into the University’s preeminent neuroscience program. His appointment begins on March 18.

For State, it’s a return to California, where he earned his undergraduate and medical degree from Stanford University. He completed his residency and a fellowship at UCLA, before moving to Yale in 2001 for a PhD degree in genetics and to pursue his academic career.

State is currently the Donald J. Cohen Professor of Child Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Genetics at Yale’s School of Medicine. He also is deputy chairman for research in the Department of Psychiatry and co-director of the Program on Neurogenetics at Yale.

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He was treated at UC Davis Medical Center after an ischemic stroke.

Larry Vanderhoef

UC Davis Chancellor emeritus Larry Vanderhoef was discharged from UC Davis Medical Center today (Dec. 27) after nearly four weeks of acute rehabilitation for a Dec. 1 ischemic stroke. He will continue to work with specialists as an outpatient to maintain and improve skills.

“Dr. Vanderhoef has responded well to rehabilitation and has regained much of the strength he lost on the right side of his body,” said Cassie Spalding-Dias, an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation and director of inpatient therapy at UC Davis. “Rehabilitation is an ongoing process, and we expect him to improve as his body continues to heal over the next year.”

A stroke, or “brain attack,” occurs when blood circulation to the brain fails, causing some brain cells to die from decreased blood flow and the resulting lack of oxygen. An ischemic stroke occurs when a blockage stops the flow of blood to the brain. It is the most frequent cause of stroke, responsible for about 80 percent of all strokes in the U.S. Rehabilitation helps individuals relearn skills that were lost when brain cells died. It includes a wide range of therapies that provide carefully directed, well-focused, repetitive practice — the same kind of practice used by all people when they learn a new skill such as playing the piano or pitching a baseball.

“I’m glad to be getting back home and am thankful for the excellent care that I received from the nurses and rehabilitation team at UC Davis,” Vanderhoef said. “I’m eager to pick up where I left off in the office and to be back in my seat at the Mondavi Center and at our men’s and women’s basketball games. I’m getting better, day by day and bit by piece. I am definitely on my way back!”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 800,000 strokes occur in the United States each year. Recognizing the following signs of stroke and contacting 9-1-1 immediately can lower the risk of death and disability:

• Numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
• Confusion, trouble speaking or difficulty understanding
• Trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Trouble walking, dizziness or loss of balance and coordination
• Severe headache with no known cause.

Spalding-Dias emphasizes that treatment options are available for stroke when symptoms are identified and treated early.

“Time is brain,” Spalding-Dias said. “Rapid, early treatment can prevent long-term damage and offers the best chance of recovery for acute ischemic stroke patients.”

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UCSF hospital, set to open in 2015, attracts visitors from around the world.

Richard Hamilton and David Meates, hospital executives from Christchurch, New Zealand, tour the UCSF Mission Bay Hospital Project on Sept. 13.

UC San Francisco Medical Center at Mission Bay won’t be complete for another two years, but the project already has firmly established itself as a model for innovation throughout the world.

Since 2011, groups from 12 different countries have visited the project site to learn more about UCSF’s approach to hospital design, green building practices and state-of -the-art healing environments. The international delegations have included hospital executives, health care providers, engineers, architects and even high school students.

“The common factor that has attracted so much global attention is our commitment to innovation,” said Stuart Eckblad, director of UCSF design and construction for the project. “From our focus on sustainability to the use of mock-up patient rooms, virtual design technologies and integrated project delivery methods, we have raised the bar, and we are delighted our colleagues from near and far are taking notice.”

So far, visitors from the following countries have toured the 289-bed hospital complex that will serve children, women and cancer patients: Brazil, China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden and Switzerland.

Some of the groups have expressed a general interest in many aspects of the project, while others have come with a more specific purpose. A group from Christchurch, New Zealand, for example, made two separate visits to Mission Bay in order to learn more about UCSF’s seismic safety practices, as Christchurch continues to rebuild after a devastating earthquake in February 2011.

“Collaboration has been at the heart of UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay from the very beginning, and we welcome the opportunity to share any knowledge that may help others,” Eckblad said.

Most recently, a group from Brazil toured the Mission Bay site to learn more about the project’s sustainability strategy while in San Francisco for the 2012 Greenbuild Conference. The new hospital complex, designed by Stantec Architecture, is on track to be certified LEED Gold by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, with energy and water conservation measures, green spaces and use of non-toxic materials among the most extensive of any urban U.S. hospital.

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New gift will provide four-year financial support for up to 33 M.D. students.

Entertainment executive and philanthropist David Geffen has established an unprecedented $100 million scholarship fund that will cover the entire cost of education for the very best medical students attending the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (DGSOM). The school was named in his honor after his $200 million unrestricted gift in 2002. With this recent gift, Geffen’s total philanthropic support to UCLA exceeds $300 million, making him the largest individual donor to UCLA and to any single UC campus.

The David Geffen Medical Scholarship Fund, conceived by Geffen and announced today (Dec. 13) by Dr. A. Eugene Washington, vice chancellor for health sciences and dean of the medical school, ensures that DGSOM will have students who graduate from medical school debt-free, allowing them to pursue lifesaving research and patient care without the economic burdens that restrict the choices of many young physicians and scientists.

“The cost of a world-class medical education should not deter our future innovators, doctors and scientists from the path they hope to pursue,” Geffen said. “We need the students at this world-class institution to be driven by determination and the desire to do their best work and not by the fear of crushing debt. I hope in doing this that others will be inspired to do the same.”

“With this game-changing gift, Mr. Geffen has invested in the medical education and training of some of the world’s brightest and most talented young people, influencing medical research and patient care for generations to come,” said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. “We are inspired by his vision and grateful for his generosity, which places UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine at the forefront in the competitive marketplace for top medical school applicants and enhances health care and biomedical research for generations.”

“Once again, David Geffen has made a transformative gift — in this case, one that shifts how we think about support for our medical students,” Washington said. “The David Geffen Medical Scholarship Fund is an extraordinary investment in a public institution that will enhance UCLA’s ability to create world leaders in health and science. Recipients of this prestigious award will proudly carry the David Geffen Medical Scholar designation with them throughout their careers as they create an enduring legacy of excellence and impact in 21st-century patient care, medical education and research.”

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), 86 percent of medical school graduates had educational debt in 2012 — with an average debt of $170,000. Studies have shown that debt has a significant impact on what field medical school graduates pursue and where they develop their professional careers. Reducing that debt burden promises to allow talented students to make career decisions based on where their passions lie.

The annual cost of tuition, fees and health insurance for a UCLA medical student in 2012–13 is approximately $38,000. When factoring in room and board, books and supplies, and other miscellaneous costs, the total tab is $67,000. With these costs continuing to rise, the projected four-year cost for students entering the school in 2013–14 is more than $300,000.

The $100 million David Geffen Medical Scholarship Fund will provide four-year financial support — covering 100 percent of tuition, room and board, books and supplies, and other expenses — for up to 33 M.D. students (representing 20 percent of the available spots), starting with the entering class of 2013–14. Included in this group will be those students pursuing an eight-year M.D.–Ph.D. educational track as part of UCLA’s renowned Medical Scientist Training Program. All the David Geffen Medical Scholarships will be awarded based on merit.

Assistance for such students is designed to draw more outstanding young people to the medical profession. The AAMC estimates that the nation will face a shortage of more than 90,000 physicians by 2020. Adding to the urgency is the aging U.S. population — approximately 10,000 people a day will turn 65 for the next two decades — and the estimated 32 million people who will be added to the ranks of the insured in 2014 as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the federal health care law signed in 2010.

UCLA’s medical school receives less than 10 percent of its funding from the state. The school relies on funding from research grants, patient care revenue and philanthropic donations to fulfill its four-part mission of research, education, community engagement and patient care.

Each year, more than 7,500 candidates apply for the school’s 163 coveted first-year positions. The David Geffen Medical Scholarships will ensure significantly higher rates of acceptance and enrollment at UCLA among the nation’s most competitively recruited medical school applicants.

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Related links:

• Fact sheet
• Admissions

UC Davis Medical Center CEO provides update.

Ann Madden Rice, UC Davis

Dear Community,

As I noted yesterday, we sent a comprehensive Plan of Correction Thursday afternoon to CMS in response to findings from its August, 2012 visit. I wanted to follow up today with added context about our response and related issues.

First, we want our patients, referring clinicians and others to be assured that our eligibility to care for Medicare and Medicaid patients and be reimbursed for services is uninterrupted. The medical center continues to be fully accredited by the Joint Commission, a status we do not expect will change, while addressing its “requirements for improvement.”

CMS conducts many types of reviews including complaint validation surveys, and it issues reports identifying areas for correction. These and other surveys help us – and all hospitals – continually improve the quality of care we provide to our patients.

The August visit by CMS to UC Davis Medical Center was prompted by a complaint related to treatment provided to three glioblastoma patients in 2010 and 2011. Its report is very critical of certain practices. I look forward to a prompt and thorough review of our corrective measures. I am confident it fully addresses the issues identified while affirming our continuing commitment to patient safety and respect for regulations and professional standards.

Our plan of correction summarizes multiple reforms — virtually all already implemented — including:

• Improving processes to ensure that innovative care, in the rare instances it is appropriate, is provided in the safest possible manner.
• Tightening procedures for use and handling of biologic agents.
• Thoroughly educating our staff about these and other improvements.

Finally, I want to reaffirm my confidence in and appreciation for our exceptional clinicians, faculty, and administrative staff and many loyal friends and supporters. I will keep you informed of our progress.

Sincerely,

Ann

Ann Madden Rice
Chief Executive Officer
UC Davis Medical Center

Related link:
Dec. 6 message from Ann Madden Rice