To Applicants to our Pediatric Residency Training Program:

We are committed to maintaining education as a top priority, and anticipate continued growth and leadership in pediatric education for this Department. I am particularly proud of our faculty, which includes members who have received national recognition for distinction in education, others who edit major pediatric texts, and a number who serve in leadership roles in professional societies. Overall, our faculty receives over $30 million annually in extramural research support, ranking our department a national leader in research funding, and providing extensive resources for residents interested in physician-scientist careers. Both our General Pediatrics Program (with its various educational pathways) and the Pediatric Leadership for the UnderServed (PLUS) Program offer exciting opportunities to learn about and serve the health needs of the community.

Our program offers a wide range of patient care experiences in five discrete venues, including San Francisco's county hospital, an outstanding university medical center which hosts the UCSF Children's Hospital, a community-based, private general hospital and one of the premier HMOs in the country. This model of broad educational opportunities during residency training is one that we increasingly see adopted by other training programs.

Residents desiring broad experience in both general and subspecialty pediatric care will find an abundance of opportunities in this program. We aim to support the training of future pediatricians of superb caliber, but with a multitude of professional goals. Approximately half of our graduates pursue further training in academic general pediatrics, basic science and research, subspecialties, or health care policy and research; half of our graduates practice primary care pediatrics in a variety of settings. The diversity and talents of the UCSF Pediatric faculty and housestaff, as well as our culturally diverse urban setting, further enhance the training we offer.

The Mission Bay Campus continues its exciting growth in biomedical research and education with the second building now fully occupied (the Genetics, Development and Behavioral Sciences building). The Community Center, a 600 space parking garage and the third research building (the Quantitative Biological Sciences building--"QB3") are now open.

Mission Bay is also the site of our future new hospital complex. The new medical center will provide an opportunity to grow programs within three new integrated hospitals — one for children, another for cancer patients and a third for women — while freeing up space for expansion at other UCSF locations. By 2014, the 289-bed complex of hospitals will include:

• A family-centered children's hospital with 183 beds, urgent and emergency care and clinics for pediatric primary care and specialties.
• A 70-bed adult hospital for cancer patients.
• A women's hospital for cancer care, specialty surgery, a 36-bed birth center and women's clinics.

In addition, the new complex will include an energy center, a helipad and support facilities such as parking. For more information see related articles.

We look forward to UCSF's continued internationally acclaimed accomplishments in research, education and clinical care on all of our campuses.

We welcome the opportunity to introduce you to our unique residency program, our outstanding housestaff, some of our fine faculty members, UCSF, and our spectacular city during an "Applicant Day" soon.

Sam Hawgood, MB, BS
Professor of Pediatrics
Chair, Department of Pediatrics