As your Interim Vice Chancellor for Human Health Sciences and Chief Clinical Officer, I’d like to reaffirm that, over the remainder of this year, we will continue following the same path forward on our strategic plans that has been set for the last several years.

We will continue to keep patient care as our motivation for everything we do, and we are going to be doing many, many things over the next several months.

We are focused on increasing patient access to services as a top 2025 priority within our established strategic plans. This is imperative for our employees and their families, and to meet the growing needs of our communities.

The ever-evolving landscape of health care is increasingly defined by innovation at the intersection of care delivery, new technology, and volumes of data. Yet the one enduring constant is that we are in the “people business” — we should always strive to meet our patients where, when, and how they need us in compassionate, equitable, and inclusive ways.

We open our doors to the world to give our patients opportunities to heal and be well; our educators the support to teach and conduct research; our students chances to learn and grow; and to keep our employees fulfilled working in a nationally acclaimed model workplace.

Rapid change is our new normal in health care. Throughout all the changes, our patients and people-in-need still receive the human touch for their care at UC Davis Health. That aspiration is constant, despite capacity and bandwidth limitations.

“The year ahead is the most monumental our health system has ever experienced.”—Bruce Hall, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.S., Interim Vice Chancellor of Human Health Sciences Chief Clinical Officer

Yes, there will always be more to do, more challenges, and more changes that will force us to adjust and adapt, but we will find better ways to work in order to take better care of more people. This principle is our focus now and into the future, just as it has been over the last several years.

From basic research to new innovations, we are redefining what a next-generation academic medical center looks like, feels like, stands for, and delivers, to patients today and tomorrow. Health care has always been “the people business.” As we deal with the many changes of the last few months, and unknown ones still to come, putting people first and patients at the center will remain our North Star.

We are thinking carefully about how UC Davis Health cares for people across space and time, and using technology to help achieve the very best outcomes, every time.

A pivotal aspect of our future involves redesigning care models to embrace patient-centered approaches. This fundamental shift from reactive and episodic care to proactive and continuous preventive care significantly improves care equity, quality, accessibility, and outcomes. By providing care at home, remotely, in outpatient settings, in evenings and on weekends, we can increase access for patients, and offer better experiences, more efficient coordination, and stronger patient-provider partnerships.

The year ahead is the most monumental our health system has ever experienced — with grand openings for Aggie Square, new clinics at our C Street location, the 48X Complex, Parking Structure 7, and our new Folsom Medical Care Clinic. And, in less than five years, the California Tower — an expansion of UC Davis Medical Center — will open and triple our ICU capability, making half of our patient rooms ICU-ready.

During this time of change, we will always follow science and always put our patients, employees and community members first.