University of California, San Francisco

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public university located in San Francisco, California. It is one of 10 University of California campuses, and it is the only campus dedicated to graduate education in health and biomedical sciences.

Academics

UCSF is unique in that it does research almost completely within medical disciplines, and the university is known for innovation in medical research, public service, and patient care. UCSF's faculty includes three Nobel Prize winners, 21 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 53 members of the Institute of Medicine, and 30 members of the Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1995, the National Research Council ranked UCSF in the top ten for biochemistry and molecular biology (1st), genetics (2nd), cell and developmental biology (3rd), neurosciences (4th), physiology (5th), and biomedical engineering (7th). Overall, the campus is fourth in the nation in annual NSF-NIH funding with $420.7 million (2003). UCSF's Schools of Dentistry, Nursing, and Pharmacy all are first in NIH funding among their peers, with $28 million, $13.4 million and $19.8 million, respectively. Its School of Medicine is fourth with $350.8 million.

UCSF's Parnassus campus includes the UCSF Medical Center, Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute (one of the state's largest outpatient clinics), and a number of research labs. UCSF's Mission Bay campus, recently opened in 2003 with construction still ongoing, contains additional research space and facilities to foster biotechnology and life sciences companies.

Distinctions

• Researchers at UCSF developed gene-splicing techniques that have revolutionized biology, spawned the biotechnology industry and led to life-saving treatments.
• Over 25,000 doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists and scientists have graduated from UCSF.
• UCSF handles more than 1 million patient visits a year through its medical centers at Parnassus and Mount Zion as well as its affiliated hospitals, San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
• UCSF has spawned over 60 biotech and life sciences company and contributes some $1.2 billion annually to the Bay Area economy.
• UCSF researchers discovered, in cooperation with Stanford, the techniques of recombinant DNA.
• With a work force of 18,600 people, UCSF is San Francisco's second largest employer.

Noted faculty

• J. Michael Bishop - Nobel laureate in Medicine (1989), worked to discover the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes
• Stanley Prusiner - Nobel laureate in Medicine (1997), discovered and described prions
• Harold Varmus - Nobel laureate in Medicine (1989), worked to discover the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes

External links

• UCSF main website
• UCSF Medical Center website