About the Medical Center |
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Donor Ad Campaign
UCSF Medical Center's donor ad campaign was launched in late 2007 for a proposed new hospital complex at Mission Bay that includes hospitals for cancer, children and women. The initial phase of the campaign has a goal of raising at least $500 million. The campaign, created in conjunction with the UCSF Development Office, highlights UCSF's research advances that lead to improved patient care.
The ads tell stories that bring to life the accomplishments of UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Children's Hospital. One of the first two people profiled is Dr. Michael Harrison, a pediatric surgeon at UCSF Children's Hospital and founder of the UCSF Fetal Treatment Center. He pioneered the surgical repair of otherwise fatal defects in babies still in the womb and helped change the face of medicine.
The second profile is of Silicon Valley venture capitalist Ron Conway, an early investor in Google and PayPal. Conway is active in community and philanthropic activities, including serving as vice chair of UCSF Foundation board and active in community activities.
Read more about Harrison and Conway.
The Father of Fetal Medicine: Dr. Michael Harrison
Dr. Michael Harrison is no stranger to innovation. Hailed the "father of fetal medicine," he developed and performed the first open fetal surgery in the world at UCSF in 1981. One of history's most significant medical advances, open fetal surgery makes it possible to surgically correct complex, often irreversible birth defects before birth.
And Harrison's list of "firsts" doesn't stop there. In the last two decades, he has revolutionized fetal surgery. Once considered an extremely dangerous and risky procedure for mothers and their fetuses, it can now be performed safely without making a single uterine incision. Harrison's minimally-invasive "FETENDO" method allows surgeons to repair fetal abnormalities by guiding tiny instruments into a woman's uterus using endoscopy and ultrasound.
Propelled by Harrison's vision, UCSF's Fetal Treatment Center has earned its reputation around the world as the birthplace of innovation in treating anatomic defects before and after birth. "UCSF is a place where scientific innovations have actually made it to children's bedsides and made a difference in their lives," says Harrison. "We have so many courageous, pioneer patients who were the first to undergo new procedures, and thanks to them, they have become established therapies for children around the world."
For nearly 100 years, UCSF has contributed to major breakthroughs in children's health through the translation of research into clinical care. It is ranked the 11th best in the nation and considered the premier pediatric center in Northern California. Now UCSF plans to build a brand new Children's Hospital — the first new hospital in more than 40 years in San Francisco.
The new Children's Hospital will be located at UCSF's burgeoning Mission Bay campus, near its existing 43-acre biomedical campus. The integration of the two will foster and strengthen the "bench to bedside" collaboration among basic scientists, clinical researchers and doctors, creating a rich environment where laboratory discoveries will be applied to a range of new treatments for children.
"Mission Bay is the perfect environment for innovation because of the intersection between technology, science and medicine," Harrison says, who is also a pioneer in using the Internet for medical communication. By helping to create a Web portal that allows for real-time medical consultations, he has made it possible for UCSF fetal treatment specialists to help patients and other doctors around the world.
Mission Bay's Angel Investor: Ron Conway
Ron Conway certainly knows a good thing when he sees it.
Dubbed "The Godfather of Silicon Valley," he has placed more bets on Internet start-ups than anyone else in the industry. He was among the first visionaries to invest in Web giants such as Google, Ask Jeeves and PayPal. More recently, QB3 (the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research) at UCSF's Mission Bay campus has caught Conway's attention.
Founded in 2000 with headquarters at Mission Bay, QB3 is a partnership between UCSF, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz and private industry. Bringing together the powerful quantitative tools of the physical sciences, engineering and mathematics, its mission is to tackle complex biological problems that have been unapproachable before, setting the stage for fundamental new discoveries, products and technologies benefiting human health.
"In 10 years, the Mission Bay Campus at UCSF will be unequivocally the most well-known medical center west of New York," says Conway. "It will be one of the top five clinics in the world. The fact is that it has the best bones on it of anywhere possible."
The Founder and Managing Partner of Angel Investors LP funds, Conway is the high-tech industry's most famous "angel investor," an entrepreneur who invests money in new companies in hopes of a big return. Though at UCSF, it was the people who impressed Conway the most.
"Everyone I've met at UCSF is top-class, from the physicians to the administrators to the people working in the development department," says Conway. "If you just give these people an exceptional facility to work in like Mission Bay, they're only going to keep getting better."
Conway made a pledge to UCSF to help raise a total of $500 million for QB3. Already, he has personally donated $80 million, in addition to his time and energy spent rallying other investors behind a good cause. Known for his incredible gift for networking, Conway has inspired high tech moguls at Google, Hewlett Packard and Network Appliance to donate money and equipment to UCSF.
Conway introduced QB3 to his close friend Mike Homer, the renowned Apple wunderkind and Netscape executive. After visiting QB3 and meeting some of the researchers, Homer made a large donation and helped Conway convince other top executives to match his gift, procuring a donation of $300,000 in computers and software.
In May 2007, Homer was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare neurological condition that affects just one in a million people each year. The good news is that he is being treated at UCSF: the leading center for Creutzfeldt-Jakob research and treatment.
"Mike is now critically ill," says Conway, who has spearheaded various fundraisers on Homer's behalf. "Ironically, the computers Mike donated are now cranking out an analysis of his disease. Because of him, I know that compared to other hospitals, the human interaction and care at UCSF is going to be better than anywhere else. The accomplishment here in the next 10 years is going to be immeasurable when people look back — literally."
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