Building the Future
Largest gift to UCSD Health Sciences to help build state-of-art academic medical center
Ioana Patringenaru | April 5, 2010
UC San Diego announced Thursday that Joan and Irwin Jacobs, and their family, have pledged $75 million, the largest gift in the history of UC San Diego Health Sciences, to build the Jacobs Medical Center on UCSD’s east campus in La Jolla.
The gift will allow the university to build a state-of-the-art academic medical center that will help bring the discoveries made in UCSD laboratories to patients’ bedsides, officials said during a press conferenceThursday.
“Today, we’re watching the transformation from a community hospital to an academic medical center,” Chancellor Marye Anne Fox said during the press conference.
“This is what transformative means,” she added.
The gift also is particularly timely as Congress just enacted health care reform, which is bound to boost demand for medical care, Fox also said.
“The Jacobs Medical Center will improve and save lives,” she said. “It is really a gift not only to UC San Diego but also to the community.”
The new medical center will help build more clusters of companies in San Diego, Mayor Jerry Sanders said at the press conference. He thanked the Jacobs for their gift—and for all their contributions to the city and the community.
“This latest donation is simply immeasurable,” Sanders said. “You have literally changed the way San Diego thinks about itself.”
San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said the new medical center will help enhance the city's economy.
Photo/Kevin Walsh
The Jacobs Medical Center will be a 10-story, 490,000 square-foot facility adjacent to Thornton Hospital. The total estimated cost for the project is $664 million, with about $350 million coming from external financing, $131 million from philanthropy and the remainder from state bonds, reserves and capitalized leases.
The new medical center will be home to approximately 245 patient beds and three new hospitals: the Cancer Hospital, the Hospital for Women and Infants, and the Hospital for Advanced Surgery. With construction set to begin by early 2012, the facility is slated for completion in June 2016 and to open for patient care in December 2016.
- The Cancer Hospital will allow expanded delivery of clinical care for cancer patients with the addition of 72 inpatient beds. The new hospital will coordinate care within a multi-disciplinary medical center, with surgical suites in the same building.
- The Hospital for Women and Infants will incorporate the latest technologies. Plans include a 52-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for those babies needing long-term, specialized care, as well as a midwifery staffed Birthing Center, which emphasizes wellness and a natural birth experience with minimal medical intervention.
- The Hospital for Advanced Surgery is designed to integrate cutting-edge diagnostics, imaging and surgical care to ensure every patient receives the most optimal treatment for their specific diagnosis. The facility will house an inter-operative MRI, which can be moved on a track to an adjoining room for diagnostic use when not being used in surgery.
Irwin and Joan Jacobs during Thursday's press conference.
Photo/Kevin Walsh
“San Diegans will no longer need to leave home for specialized care,” said Tom Jackiewicz, C.E.O. of the UC San Diego Health System.
“This gift is an investment in the future of health care,” he also said.
During Thursday’s press conference, Irwin Jacobs said he first became aware of the project at a UC San Diego Foundation meeting. He was quite taken with the idea of a hospital that looked striking and would provide beautiful rooms and privacy for patients, he said.
The new medical center also will help fulfill the need for more physician training, he said. It will also be outfitted with grounding-breaking technology, including wireless devices and telemedicine capabilities that will help provide better care outside the hospital.
“It will make a major difference going forward,” Irwin Jacobs said.
Joan Jacobs said she was proud to add her family’s name to all the other San Diego families who have contributed to building medical facilities at UCSD. UC San Diego Health Sciences also comprises the Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Thornton Medical Center in La Jolla, the Moores UCSD Cancer Center, Shiley Eye Center and the Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center, scheduled to open in early 2011.
A model of the Jacobs Medical Center
During the press conference, attended by more than 120 top administrators, faculty, staff and university supporters, all top officials expressed their gratitude to Irwin and Joan Jacobs and their family.
“Your extraordinary gift enables us to fulfill our vision,” said Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences David Brenner.
“Together Joan and Irwin remain committed to supporting our students, faculty and graduates through their time and support,” Vice Chancellor for External and Business Affairs Steve Relyea said.
Irwin Jacobs was a founding faculty member at UCSD, serving as a professor of electrical and computer engineering from 1966 to 1972. Both he and Joan Jacobs have been dedicated advisors as well as donors to the university, and each has served as board members of the UC San Diego Foundation. Joan was a co-founder of the Friends of the International Center and the Friends of the Stuart Collection, as well as a long-term board member of the La Jolla Playhouse. In 2003, the Jacobs pledged $110 million— the largest gift in the history of the university—to the Jacobs School of Engineering. During Thursday’s press conference, Irwin Jacobs said he was looking forward to seeing how the new medical center would unfold.
“The exciting part is what comes next,” he said.
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