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Former name | UCLA School of Medicine (1951–2002) |
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Motto | Fiat lux |
Motto in English | Let there be light |
Type | Public |
Established | 1951 |
Parent institution | University of California, Los Angeles |
Dean | Steven M. Dubinett [1] |
Location | , , United States 34°03′58″N118°26′35″W / 34.0662°N 118.4431°W |
Campus | Urban |
Website | medschool |
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The UCLA School of Medicine (also known as the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA) is the accredited medical school of the University of California, Los Angeles. Founded in 1951, it is the second medical school in the University of California system after the UCSF School of Medicine.
Dating back to its affiliation with the University of California in 1873, the UCSF School of Medicine was the only public medical school in California. This made sense in the late 19th century when most of California's population lived in Northern California and Southern California was a lightly populated desert. It no longer made sense by the 1940s, after Los Angeles had overtaken San Francisco to become the leading metropolis on the West Coast of the United States. Dr. Elmer Belt was instrumental in lobbying for the establishment of the School. [2]
The movement to start a medical school at UCLA began with Provost Clarence Addison Dykstra, who persuaded UC President Robert Gordon Sproul to appoint a committee headed by Vern Oliver Knudsen to study the issue. [3]
On October 18, 1945, the committee presented its findings to the Regents of the University of California. [3] At the time, there were only two medical schools in Southern California: the College of Medical Evangelists (now the School of Medicine of Loma Linda University), which rarely admitted students who were not already members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and USC Keck School of Medicine, which was admitting only about 70 students per year. [3] These two were plainly inadequate to satisfy the rapidly growing Southland's need for healthcare services, with the result that two-thirds of Los Angeles doctors had been educated at medical schools elsewhere. [3] After hearing the committee's findings, the Board of Regents immediately voted that same day to approve the creation of a medical school at UCLA. [3] Governor Earl Warren signed Assembly Bill 35 into state law on February 19, 1946, which appropriated $7 million for the construction of a medical school building on the UCLA campus. [3]
In 1947, Stafford L. Warren was appointed as the first dean. [3] Warren had served on the Manhattan Project while on leave from his post at University of Rochester School of Medicine. His choice of core faculty consisted of his former associates at Rochester in Andrew Dowdy as the first professor of radiology, John Lawrence as the first professor of medicine, and Charles Carpenter as the first professor of infectious diseases. Along with William Longmire Jr., a 34-year-old surgeon from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the group was called the Founding Five.
The building of the medical center and the School of Medicine began in 1949. The 1951 charter class consisted of 26 men and 2 women. Initially, there were 15 faculty members, although that number had increased to 43 by 1955 when the charter class graduated. The first classes were conducted in the reception lounge of the old Religious Conference Building on Le Conte Avenue. Clinical education was initially conducted on the wards of Harbor General Hospital, which today is Harbor–UCLA Medical Center. [4]
In July 1955, the UCLA Medical Center was opened.
Sherman Mellinkoff succeeded Stafford Warren as dean in 1962 and served for the next 24 years. Under Mellinkoff, the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, the UCLA Brain Research Institute, and the Marion Davies Children's Center were founded. The Jules Stein Eye Institute and the Reed Neurological Research Center were established. By decade's end, UCLA had doubled the size of the medical school and the hospital. The UCLA School of Dentistry, School of Public Health, and School of Nursing were formed as well. The medical school grew to nearly 400 medical students, more than 700 interns and residents, and almost 200 master's and doctorate candidates.
A partnership was formed with the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in 1966 to train medical students with the goal of meeting the needs of the underserved in South Los Angeles.
The school continued its growth in the 1970s, becoming affiliated with VA facilities as well as Olive View–UCLA Medical Center. In 1974, the school co-founded the Biomedical Sciences Program with UC Riverside, which offers 24 students each year the opportunity to earn both the B.S. and M.D. degrees in seven years instead of the traditional eight.
1981 saw the dedication of the Doris and Louis Factor Health Sciences Building which houses the School of Nursing and Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. In 1987, construction began on UCLA Medical Plaza, an outpatient facility located across the street from the main hospital.
Kenneth I. Shine succeeded Sherman Mellinkoff as dean in 1986. In 1992 Shine left UCLA to become President of the Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C. Gerald S. Levey was then appointed provost of medical sciences and dean of the medical school in 1994. Levey oversaw expansion of interdisciplinary research and the establishment of a Department of Human Genetics. The Gonda (Goldschmied) Neuroscience and Genetics Research Center, as well as the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, were constructed. In October 2008, Levey announced that he would be stepping down from the position of Dean in 2009.[ citation needed ]
The UCLA School of Medicine was renamed "David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA" in 2002 in honor of media mogul David Geffen, who donated $200 million in unrestricted funds. [5]
Effective February 2010, A. Eugene Washington was appointed Dean of the UCLA School of Medicine and Vice-Chancellor of Health Sciences at UCLA. Washington, a clinician, academician, researcher, and university administrator, was recruited from UCSF, where he served as Vice-Chancellor and Provost, as well as Professor of gynecology, epidemiology, and health policy. Washington is the first African-American to hold these leadership posts at UCLA. [6]
UCLA constructed the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center across the street from the original facility to comply with the California earthquake law. The 1,050,000-square-foot (98,000 m2) hospital is named after the late President of the United States and Governor of California, Ronald Reagan. It was designed by architect I.M. Pei. Patients were transferred there from the existing hospital in June 2008.[ citation needed ]
In the rankings released for 2024, U.S. News & World Report ranked David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA as Tier 1 in the U.S. in research and ranked UCLA Medical Center at No. 5. [7]
Notable hospitals and Medical Centers affiliated with UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine are: [8]
The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA accepts applications for summer academic enrichment programs. These programs include the Premedical/Predental Enrichment Program (PREP), Summer Medical Dental Education Program (SMDEP), and the Re-Application Post baccalaureate Program (RAP). Application deadlines are March 1 for the PREP and SMDEP programs, while the RAP program has a deadline of May 15. [11]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(November 2012) |