The new cardiovascular center at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) is defined by three D’s: discovery, delivery and dissemination.
The Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center aims to create a hub for cardiovascular activities in San Diego where physicians-in-training, researchers and specialists from numerous fields can collaborate under one roof.
UC Regents approved the $136.5 million project on Jan. 19. Construction is expected to begin in December of 2007 and last two years. Operations at Thornton Hospital, 9300 Campus Point Drive, will continue as normal, according to Anthony DeMaria, director of the center.
The 128,000-square-foot building includes 16 to 20 examination rooms. Thornton Hospital will also be expanded to include 18 additional intensive care beds, four new operating rooms, new cardiac catheterization labs and procedure rooms and expanded emergency room services.
The center intends to tackle cardiovascular disease from all sides. Cardiologists and cardiac surgeons will work with pulmonary doctors interested in high blood pressure, with physicians and neurologists interested in stroke and with radiologists focused on diagnosis, DeMaria said.
“The whole is more than the sum of its parts,” DeMaria said.
The center will also aim to educate. Teaching will be ongoing for students, house staff, residents, physicians-in-training and for the public in general on how to avoid heart disease, DeMaria said.
San Diego has shown strong support for the center. The Sulpizio family is so concerned with heart disease ” a prominent killer in their bloodline ” that Maria (Gaby) and Richard Sulpizio donated $10 million to the center. Richard Sulpizio is the former president of Qualcomm.
“The people and doctors involved with cardio health are among the finest in the nation,” Sulpizio said.
So far the center has raised $30 million, and philanthropy is expected to account for one-third of the total cost, DeMaria said. Debt financing, hospital reserves and the UC Regents ” the board that governs the university system ” will account for the rest. UCSD is still unsure how much each source will contribute, DeMaria said.
The cardiovascular center has been on the university’s books for nine years but serious planning did not begin until three years ago. In order to receive Regents’ approval, UCSD had to demonstrate how the center would contribute to the university’s mission of clinical care, research and training, DeMaria said. In the end, though, available resources determine when a project begins, he added.
“When it’s all said and done, nothing gets done unless you have the resources to pay for it,” DeMaria said.