The Evolution of UCLA's Center for Health Sciences: A Legacy of Innovation and Resilience
The David Geffen School of Medicine and UCLA Health are driven by research, investing in science, asking difficult questions, and constantly seeking answers. The history of the UCLA Center for Health Sciences (CHS) building reflects this commitment, marking significant milestones in medical education, research, and patient care.
Humble Beginnings and Foundational Milestones
The journey began with the appointment of Stafford L. Warren, M.D., as the first dean of the medical school. Dr. Warren, a radiologist and former colonel in the United States Army Medical Corps, also served as chief of the Manhattan Project’s medical section. Classes started on Sept. 20, with the first cohort of students-two women and 26 men-being taught by 15 faculty members. The four-year attendance cost $10,000.
The early years saw the establishment of key programs and the recognition of pioneering individuals. Paul Terasaki ’50, M.S. ’52, Ph.D. ’56, a three-time UCLA graduate who spent three years with his family in a Japanese-American internment camp, developed the tissue-matching test that made organ transplants possible. Artist May Lesser, M.F.A., embedded with the Class of 1971, completed her four-year medical journey and later published The Art of Learning Medicine based on her experience. Gail Wyatt, Ph.D. ’73, became the first Black woman licensed as a psychologist in the state of California.
Partnerships and Expansion of Medical Education
The Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in south Los Angeles and the UCLA School of Medicine established the Charles R. UCLA formed a formal affiliation with Venice Family Clinic, which would become the nation’s largest free medical clinic. Marjorie Fine, M.D. ’75, R.E.S. ’80, became the first woman to complete the general surgery residency at UCLA. Dr. Fine went on to become one of the first female surgeons at Saint John’s Hospital and Health Center. Funded by the NIH, the UCLA Medical Scientist Training Program opened its doors to those pursuing a joint M.D.-Ph.D. degree. Anna Lee Fisher ’71, M.D.
Pioneering Medical Advancements
UCLA has been at the forefront of medical innovation, marked by several significant achievements. Helmed by Ronald Busuttil, M.D., Ph.D., UCLA opened the first liver transplant program west of the Mississippi. Patricia Bath, M.D., invented Laserphaco, a device and technique that began the laser era of cataract surgery.
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The UCLA School of Medicine launched the “Doctoring” curriculum, which took a new, patient-centered approach to medical education. Students were introduced to a wide variety of communication skills and psychosocial factors (including substance abuse, domestic violence, and mental health) that play an important role in patient encounters. UCLA launched the Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) Program, allowing residents and fellows to pursue a Ph.D.
Modernization and Adaptation
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, designed by I.M. Pei, opened, marking a new era in patient care. A. Donald B. Kelsey C. Martin, M.D., Ph.D., became the first female dean of the medical school. Dr. Martin, a neuroscientist, was inspired to pursue medicine by her experience as a Peace Corps volunteer. Thirty-three laboratories and hundreds of biomedical researchers moved from historically siloed units into a new, shared space in the CHS South Tower.
Linda Liau, M.D., Ph.D. ’99, M.B.A., a world-renowned brain surgeon and cancer researcher who is pioneering the use of a dendritic cell-based vaccine for glioblastoma, was elected chair of the American Board of Neurological Surgery. Students assisted at COVID-19 testing sites and formed the LA COVID Volunteers, a group of 700+ UCLA scholars who provided free child care, grocery runs, and PPE to essential workers and their families during the pandemic. Made possible by a $20 million gift from donors Eugene and Maxine Rosenfeld, DGSOM opened Rosenfeld Hall - the new home for the UCLA Simulation Center and the UCLA Health Center for Advanced Surgical & Interventional Technology (CASIT).
UCLA closed out 2023 by acquiring L.A.’s former Westside Pavilion, a 700,000-square-foot property located just 2 miles south of the Westwood campus, with the intent to house the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy (CIII) at UCLA and the UCLA Center for Quantum Science and Engineering, as well as programs across the disciplines. The California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy (CIII) at UCLA was established to bring together scientists and industry partners to streamline the process from scientific discovery to tangible treatments for patients. A historic surgery, the result of years of research, the first human bladder transplant performed at UCLA. The surgery was successfully completed at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center on May 4, 2025. The team was led by Dr. Nima Nassiri, a urologic transplant surgeon and director of the UCLA Vascularized Composite Bladder Allograft Transplant Program, with assistance from Dr.
The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
The UCLA Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health is located within the Center for Health Sciences building on UCLA's campus in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. UCLA began offering undergraduate instruction in public health in 1946. In 1957, UCLA started a program that led to an advanced degree in public health. The UCLA School of Public Health was created on March 17, 1961, and Lenor S. (Steve) Goerke was named the first dean.
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In June 1993, UCLA announced that it was planning to merge the School of Public Health into the School of Public Policy. On February 16, 2012, the school received a gift valued at $50 million from the Fielding family, the largest single donation the school has received since its creation in 1962. The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health has students from 27 countries. The school has five academic departments - Biostatistics, Community Health Sciences, Environmental Health Sciences, Epidemiology, and Health Policy and Management - and offers three degree types: MPH, MS and PhD. The school also has 19 Memoranda of Understanding with institutions in countries that include Cambodia, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Germany, Mexico and the Philippines. UCLA Fielding School of Public Health faculty and students are involved in projects that span bench science, applied research, policy analysis, and community-based local and international projects.
Examples of research areas include: access to healthcare, environmental quality, reproductive health, cancer, health disparities, children's health, as well as newer areas of strength in genomics, global health and emerging infectious diseases. Abdelmonem A. E. Frank J. Matthew J. Milton Roemer - Internationally known health systems researcher. Paul R. Ninez A.
Opening of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
They assembled before daybreak, a healing army of 2,300 nurses, lifters, porters, therapists, ambulance drivers and campus volunteers. They came to move 335 medical, surgical and psychiatric patients. It was a long-awaited day. With a crescent moon illuminating the pre-dawn sky, Westwood Boulevard and nearby streets were closed to public traffic. The doors closed on the old ER and new doors opened in the sparkling, digital-era facility. As the sun came up, the small army organized into two teams, the blue and the gold. “Remember to enjoy yourself,” said Dr. David Feinberg, CEO and interim associate vice chancellor of the UCLA Hospital System. Patients at CHS, along with their medical equipment and personal belongings, were packed up, lifted into one of the 80 gurneys required for the move and delivered to ambulances, at a send-off rate of one patient every two minutes. “The last patient has been moved in,” said Dr. James Atkinson, senior medical director of clinical operations. “Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is officially open. “I found it a very emotional experience to actually see the patients moved,” said Dr. Gerald S. Levey, vice chancellor of medical sciences and dean of the Geffen School of Medicine, who played a pivotal role in the decade-long creation and construction of the new hospital, during a press conference that followed the move. “We’re done,” Atkinson said. “This building is alive.
Seismic Safety and Structural Resilience
When the Northridge earthquake rocked Los Angeles on Jan. 17, 1994, damaging or destroying thousands of buildings throughout the region, UCLA was nearly a decade into a seismic safety construction retrofit program. Using previous temblors as catalysts, the program was an intensive effort to bring campus buildings up to the latest standards and increase safety for building occupants. Spurred by the Northridge temblor, UCLA expanded the program, piecing together funding from multiple sources, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, state and University of California bond funding, private donations and campus resources.
When all of the work is completed in 2019, a total of 66 buildings - nearly 10 million square feet worth - will have been made seismically safer. The total cost: $2.2 billion. "Since 1985, assuring the structural safety of campus buildings has been one of our top priorities," said Steve Olsen, UCLA's vice chancellor and chief financial officer, who oversees the capital programs unit, which manages the work. "Seismically strengthening such a large number of buildings has been a complex and difficult task. Despite the challenges, we are now nearing completion of the work and are incredibly proud of the results."
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To date, 49 campus-owned buildings and structures - from historic buildings to residence halls and parking structures - have undergone work to make them more earthquake resistant. Work on 10 structures is currently in progress, with seismic mitigation on seven remaining buildings to be completed in the next six years. Among the buildings that have been made seismically safer are some of the campus's most venerable structures. Royce Hall was closed for months after the Northridge temblor cracked both of its towers. Four spires atop Kerckhoff Hall rotated six inches in the shaking and had to be removed, fixed and replaced by cranes. Powell Library was also retrofitted and the historic ceiling of its reading room was renovated and replaced.
When the Northridge earthquake hit, seismic work at Bunche and Dykstra halls and the Mathematical Sciences Building had already been completed; however, the disaster helped identify and reclassify other UCLA buildings that needed attention and reinforcement. Additional state and federal funding that became available after Northridge laid the groundwork to enhance the seismic safety program. "It has been a very aggressive plan," said Peter Hendrickson, associate vice chancellor for design and construction. "We have invested more and done more than any other UC campus." Advances in technology added to the precision of the work, Hendrickson said. Experts are now able to produce computer models that predict specific buildings' responses to seismic activity, which has led to more accurate recommendations. Geological Survey began providing site-specific information that engineers used for seismic retrofitting and new construction.
Finding Value in Damaged Assets
The seismically deficient south tower of the Center for Health Sciences formerly housed the UCLA Medical Center. The structure was preserved rather than demolished, thanks to the USGS recommendations. "Rather than tearing it down and losing an asset, a better way of approaching the situation was to renovate," said UCLA Campus Architect Jeffery Averill. Although the damaged, 449,000 square foot building could no longer meet California's new seismic standards for hospitals, it could be retrofitted for non-hospital use. "With the upgrades and the state funding for the south tower, the old hospital is currently being strengthened and converted to state-of-the-art research laboratory space," Averill said. The first phase of that project, now completed, involved the addition of 29 new concrete shear walls that required workers to dig 20 feet below the basement level to form new foundations. New building infrastructure, energy-efficient windows and finishes are currently being installed. Future renovations in other CHS buildings will include applying a fiberglass mesh wrap to strengthen critical columns and shear walls, which will improve the seismic performance of the building's structural system.
The Domino Effect
The damage sustained by the south tower in 1994 paved the way for the creation of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, which opened in 2008. To provide a site for the new hospital, a parking structure was demolished - the parking spaces that were lost were replaced by the new Parking Structure 7, located underneath the Intramural Field, Averill said. And the quake's effect on the campus landscape didn't end there. The Kinross Building, built as a temporary "staging" structure for campus departments whose buildings were being demolished or renovated, now houses the Office of Intellectual Property and the graduate student gym and lounge. Part of Hershey Hall, which was also used as a staging site, was torn down to make way for the Terasaki Life Sciences Building, which opened in 2010. The former campus police station, which was seismically deficient, was replaced with a new and improved building. And the Engineering I building was demolished, making way for the construction of Engineering VI, which is now underway.
"We've done everything possible to rehabilitate historic structures, like Royce and Hershey halls, to bring them back to safe, useful spaces with modern utilities, while preserving their historical fabric and integrity," said Bill Coleman, assistant director of capital planning and finance. "In regard to other buildings like the former Dickson Art Center, which was transformed into the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Center, and the former women's gymnasium, which became Glorya Kaufman Hall, we leveraged the state-funded seismic mitigation work, along with donor funds, to create some brand-new facilities within the older structures."
Among the structures that have been recently built or renovated, or are currently being built, to modern seismic safety codes are graduate student and undergraduate housing facilities, Robin and Albert Carnesale Commons, Pauley Pavilion, the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference and Guest Center, the Evelyn and Mo Ostin Music Center and the Teaching and Learning Center for Health Sciences. "This was no small feat," Hendrickson said. "It's actually quite impressive to seismically upgrade and construct new buildings at the rate that we did.
A Vision for the Future
Located directly inside the UCLA southern entrance, the project will serve as a gateway to the entire campus. “A major focus that we had when we started the design was to try to do something that would improve the overall UCLA campus,” said Didi Pei, son of I.M. Pei and principal design partner of the UCLA project. “Today, there’s no entrance to UCLA, and there should be a gateway to the campus to announce your arrival. We don’t do buildings without trying to see how they fit into their context. The lion’s share of the $600 million cost of the medical center itself $432 million is being covered by earthquake-repair funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Another $44.3 million will come from the state of California. The other 20 percent will come from private donations raised through the efforts spearheaded by Ovitz and Burkle. Ovitz also recommended to the University of California regents that famed architect I.M. Pei be commissioned to design the project. A campus-wide fund-raising effort, dubbed Campaign UCLA, has raised almost 75 percent of the $1.2 billion goal. As for the architectural approach to the first phase, Pei Partnership’s concept involves creating a “healing garden” environment, with plenty of outdoor light streaming into almost every patient’s room. The surrounding area will be richly landscaped, with colorful blooming trees like jacaranda surrounding the hospital. Each room in the new 525-bed hospital will be private. The rooms are large 1,300 square feet and will have couches that can be converted into beds, so relatives can sleep over with the patient. Pei said his father, who is semi-retired at the age of 82, is acting as a consultant and they meet about once a month so the senior Pei can offer advice and suggestions. Hospital officials said they were attracted to Pei’s proposal because he had experience designing another hospital in a major urban environment Mt. Each floor will be dedicated to a different specialty. “Currently, statewide the occupancy of existing facilities is about 50 percent,” said architect Roger. “The improvements that will come with the new hospital are many,” Levey said. “It’s unfair to compare the old hospital to a new I.M. Pei-designed facility.
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