Health Sciences and Services changes name to UC Health
March 17, 2015 •
The University of California Office of the President’s Division of Health Sciences and Services has changed its name to UC Health to reflect its role providing leadership and strategic direction for UC’s five academic medical centers and 17 health professional schools.
UC President Janet Napolitano approved the name change and promoted the head of UC Health, Dr. John Stobo, to executive vice president from senior vice president.
“UC’s campuses and medical centers are leaders in health education, research and patient care,” Stobo said. “Our new name recognizes our mission to bring together UC’s medical centers and health professional schools to create something where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Our central office at UC Health is small but mighty, providing leadership and strategic direction to advance health in California and beyond.”
UC’s five academic medical centers — Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco — rank among the nation’s best hospitals, not only providing care but also training tomorrow’s leaders and tackling health’s toughest challenges.
Meanwhile, UC has the largest health sciences instructional program in the nation. Its 17 health professional schools on seven campuses — Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego and San Francisco — rank among the nation’s best graduate schools.
According to U.S. News & World Report’s recently released 2016 Best Graduate Schools rankings, five UC medical schools ranked in the top 50 nationally for research and four placed in the top 20 nationally for primary care rankings. Three UC nursing schools ranked in the top 50, including No. 2 UCSF, while UC Davis had the nation’s top veterinary school and in public health UC Berkeley ranked ninth and UCLA was 10th. In the most recent assessment (2012), UCSF ranked first in pharmacy. The surveys do not rank dental or optometry schools.
UC Health also provides oversight on the business and financial activities of the clinical enterprise and supports operational initiatives at individual UC campuses and development of systemwide initiatives. For example, the Leveraging Scale for Value initiative launched last year to collaborate as a system to reduce costs at UC medical centers. In addition, UC Health has shared responsibility for overseeing UC student health centers and self-insured plans for UC students and for UC employees.
