UCI breaks ground on medical center

UC Irvine and UCI Health have broken ground on a new medical center at the north end of the Irvine campus.

UC Irvine and UCI Health have broken ground on a new medical center at the north end of the Irvine campus. The $1.3 billion complex will include a 144-bed acute-care hospital with an emergency room, an outpatient Center for Advanced Care, a Center for Children’s Health and the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Ambulatory Care building.

“Of all the things we do at UCI, all the myriad ways our community is served, none are more important than the activities of our academic health center,” UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman says. “People come to us when they are at their most vulnerable; they turn to us to make their lives better; and the outcomes of our efforts have the greatest effect on those lives.”

The presence of the award-winning medical institutions of UCI Health, Hoag and Kaiser Permenente, combined with Irvine’s green design, have helped the city rank among the top 10 healthiest U.S. cities, according to separate studies by the Anthem Foundation, WalletHub and Niche.