State of the art new hospital set to open in La Jolla on 2016.
More than 200 San Diegans turned out Monday to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Jacobs Medical Center, a new 245 room facility that will house three new specialty hospitals: the Hospital for Cancer Care, the Hospital for Advanced Surgery and the Hospital for Women and Infants.
From left, Dr. David Brenner, Carol Vassiliadis, Joan and Irwin Jacobs, Chancellor Marye Anne Fox
Named for benefactors Joan and Irwin Jacobs, who donated $75 million dollars to the project, the Jacobs Medical Center will have private rooms, interactive technology, and will serve as a bridge between research being carried out at UC San Diego and bedside hospital care.
Lauren Reynolds, President and C.E.O. of At Home Care Solution, the leading provider of in home care across San Diego, served as Master of Ceremonies. She is an active member of the Alumni Association and graduated from UC San Diego in 1994.
Lauren Reynolds Introducing Guests
“I am so proud of my alma mater,” Reynolds remarked, “…it’s growth and reach, it’s impact on our health care, our economy and quality of life. And it’s vision for the future, which brings us to this celebration today.”
Lauren Reynolds of At Home Care Solution with the Jacobs
Marye Anne Fox, Chancellor, noted, “in addition to having state of the art equipment and facilities, [The Jacobs Medical Center] has also been designed to be patient-focused.”
The center will utilize wireless health, portable medical records and other innovations.
Dean David Brenner, Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences and the Dean of the School of Medicine remarked that when the center opens in 2016, “We will extend the reach of the UC San Diego Cancer Center to in-patient care, given new hope to people who need it most.”
Cancer is the leading cause of death in San Diego, the goal of the Center is to improve outcomes, reduce recovery times and to draw on the latest medical breakthroughs happening on the UC San Diego campus.
“Care will be highly personalized, delivered with extraordinary precision based on a person’s genotype and unique set of environmental influences”, Brenner added.
Irwin Jacobs and his wife Joan joined Carol Vassiliadis, who donated to a wing of the hospital, Congressman Bob Filner, Mayor Jerry Sanders, Dr. Brenner, and Interim UC San Diego Health System C.E.O. Thomas V. McAfee in shoveling the first ceremonial dig of the project.
Jacobs commented that when he first arrived at UC San Diego in the 1960’s, before he launched Qualcomm, there were only a handful of buildings. At that time, they were celebrating the construction of the one and only engineering building. He remarked that the growth on the La Jolla campus is extraordinary and joked that he and his wife plan to be around when the Medical Center bearing their name opens its doors in 2016.
Jacobs Medical Center Quick Facts: Construction Costs $664 Million, 245 beds in private rooms, 10 Stories, 12 Operating Rooms, 18,000 Construction Jobs & 750 Permanent Healthcare Jobs
