San Francisco Health Department Passes Resolution in Support of UCSF Research Building at ZSFG
At their Dec. 6 meeting, the San Francisco Health Commission unanimously passed a resolution in support of a 75-year ground lease, and related Lease Disposition and Development Agreement (LDDA), for the construction of a new research and academic building on the campus of the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG).
If approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the $200 million building would be constructed by UC San Francisco, at no cost to city taxpayers, and would provide modern facilities to accommodate approximately 800 UCSF researchers and staff now dispersed among several existing buildings on the ZSFG campus.
UCSF’s partnership with ZSFG dates back nearly 150 years. All physicians practicing at ZSFG are UCSF faculty who also teach and conduct research there, and faculty, trainees, and staff from all four of UCSF’s professional schools – Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy – provide patient care, teach or conduct research at ZSFG.
ZSFG is one of the world’s premier public hospitals, and plays a particularly important role as the sole Level 1 Trauma Center in the San Francisco Bay Area. Hospitals must maintain robust, bench-to-bedside research and teaching programs to earn and retain the Level 1 designation, a rank reserved by the American College of Surgeons for the highest quality, most comprehensive trauma treatment centers. The proposed building is designed to achieve UCSF’s research and teaching missions at ZSFG as effectively and efficiently as possible.
“Medical research can save lives and improve the world for generations to come,” said San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee. “The Health Commission’s endorsement for creating this state-of-the-art research center is an important step toward continuing the invaluable work of the UCSF partnership at ZSFG. From pioneering public health work on HIV and diabetes, to the trauma services our entire region relies upon, UCSF’s enduring commitment to research at ZSFG improves the lives of all San Franciscans.”
Nearly 4,000 patients with serious, life-threatening traumatic injuries are treated annually at ZSFG, where top specialists with expertise in trauma care are on-site around the clock, 365 days a year.
“By continually advancing health care for the most serious conditions, UCSF research conducted at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital has improved the lives of countless patients and families in our city,” said UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS. “The new research and academic building would nurture powerful new collaborations by bringing all of our physician-researchers under one roof, in up-to-date facilities, while keeping them close by the patients who are their top priority.”
The top-notch clinical care for trauma springs directly from ZSFG-based UCSF research in neurosurgery, neurology, orthopedics, radiology, nursing and numerous other fields.
From pioneering public health work on HIV and diabetes, to the trauma services our entire region relies upon, UCSF’s enduring commitment to research at ZSFG improves the lives of all San Franciscans.
“The research conducted on trauma at ZSFG is second to none globally, and our patients see its benefits every day,” said UCSF neurosurgeon Geoffrey Manley, MD, PhD, chief of neurotrauma at ZSFG, and co-director of the world-renowned research program at ZSFG’s Brain and Spinal Injury Center. In 2011, ZSFG was the first hospital in the United States to receive certification for its traumatic brain injury (TBI) program. “Few conditions are as potentially devastating as TBI, and ZSFG researchers are on the front lines, developing treatments that bring patients the best possible quality of life.”
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is expected to consider the Ground Lease and LDDA for the proposed building in January 2017. If approved, the building, 175,000 gross square feet, with wet and dry laboratories and administrative offices, will be situated on ZSFG space known as the B/C parking lot. Regents of the University of California certified the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR), ground lease, and LDDA at their Nov. 16 meeting.
“The round-the-clock, world-class care ZSFG physicians offer to patients with critical injuries is indispensable, and it is all grounded in our research and public mission,” said trauma surgeon Andre Campbell, MD, a professor of surgery at UCSF who was a member of ZSFG’s rapid-response team following the crash of Asiana Flight 214 at San Francisco International Airport in 2013. “Providing the best facilities to UCSF physician-scientists at ZSFG will ensure the highest quality of care for San Franciscans for years to come.”
Research Impacts Care at ZSFG
The UCSF-ZSFG partnership is known worldwide for adopting pioneering health interventions that translate research discoveries into better clinical care. Learn more about research happening at ZSFG:
