MEDIA ADVISORY
April 15, 2005

UCSF FRESNO CELEBRATES 30-YEAR ANNIVERSARY WITH GRAND OPENING OF NEW MEDICAL EDUCATION AND RESEARCH BUILDING

U.S. Surgeon General to participate in gala event on April 22

FRESNO – UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program, which commemorates its 30th anniversary this year, will celebrate the grand opening of its new Center for Medical Education and Research with a series of activities. Recognizing the critical role UCSF Fresno plays in providing health care to San Joaquin Valley residents and training health care professionals in the region, U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona is scheduled to participate.

Schedule of events:

• Media tour featuring highlightsof the 82,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art building will be led by Michael Petersen, MD, chief of medicine at UCSF Fresno, on Wednesday, April 20 at 11 a.m.
• Media availability with U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona and Joan Voris, MD, associate dean of UCSF Fresno, is set for Friday, April 22, from 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• Grand Opening Gala , will take place Friday, April 22, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. with a keynote address by Carmona at approximately 8:15 p.m.
• Medical education symposium , titled “Balancing Technology and Humanism in Medicine,” is scheduled for Saturday, April 23 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

All of the activities will take place at the UCSF Fresno Center for Medical Education and Research, which is located at 155 N. Fresno Street, on the Community Regional Medical Center campus. Parking is available on the north side of the building.

The opening of the UCSF Fresno Center represents a new era for medical education and the delivery of health care in the Valley. The center, which features the latest in instructional methods and technologies, including a digital medical library, clinical skills lab, and virtual classrooms, will play a pivotal role in the recruitment and retention of quality physicians in the region.

The new facility will serve as the hub of UCSF Fresno’s medical education activities. In fact, the building’s designer modeled the front entrance to represent an open book. The center will house both the administrative and educational components of the program together for the first time in UCSF Fresno’s 30-year history.

UCSF Fresno has trained one-third of Valley physicians currently practicing in one of the seven specialties in which UCSF Fresno provides training. Since its inception in 1974, UCSF Fresno has graduated approximately 60 physicians every year, totaling more than 2,000 to date. UCSF Fresno faculty and medical residents also care for the overwhelming majority of the area’s underserved populations. In addition, UCSF Fresno educates about 200 medical students each year as well as provides academic preparation programs for middle- and high-school students interested in the health professions.

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