After signing the much-anticipated State of California budget, Governor Gray Davis approved $26 million dollars for University of California San Francisco, Fresno (UCSF-Fresno) to build a state-of-the-art medical education and research center. “We are thrilled that Governor Davis approved the new building,” said Deborah Stewart, MD, and associate dean for UCSF-Fresno. “Thanks to the cooperation and overwhelming support from our community, our partners and the strong leadership of Senator Costa and all our local legislators, the San Joaquin Valley will have a cutting edge medical education and research facility located in downtown Fresno.”
The Medical Education and Research Center will offer modern advances in medicine never before available to the Valley community. For example, through the telemedicine center, the latest techniques in medical advances from local experts as well as from those around the world will be available to physicians throughout our area. In the standardized patient care facility, doctors will learn the latest in procedures and medical etiquette through a series of simulated training sessions.
The public will be invited to utilize the outdoor amphitheatre. “The amphitheatre will hold more than 250 people,” said Stewart. “We hope the community will use it as a gathering place and that local organizations will hold functions there.”
UCSF-Fresno will break ground for the building in May of 2002. Construction will take approximately 18 months to complete. UCSF-Fresno will move in January of 2004.
