In 1851, 46-year-old surgeon Hugh Toland moved with his family from Missouri to California to seek his fortune in the Gold Rush. After only a month trying his hand as a miner his wife died and Toland moved to San Francisco and returned to medicine. In 1864 his practice was so lucrative that he purchased land at the corner of Stockton and Francisco in North Beach^[1] and opened Toland Medical College.

In 1873 Toland Medical College became an affiliate of the University of California (the Berkeley campus had been established in 1868) and was renamed the Medical Department of the University of California. There were two other City colleges that also became affiliates of the UC system: one for Pharmacology and the other for Dentistry. In 1895 Adolph Sutro^[2] donated 13 acres of land in Parnassus Heights overlooking Golden Gate Park^[3] so the three affiliate colleges could share one site. It opened in 1898 as the Medical Department of the University of California. UC med students would spend their first two years at the Berkeley campus and their last two years in San Francisco. Patient care was at San Francisco General Hospital^[4].

After the 1906 Earthquake and Fires^[5], when thousands of displaced residents camped in Golden Gate Park, the Parnassus campus converted one its buildings into a 75-bed hospital. That same year it established the School for Nurses. In 1911 the Medical Department of the University of California made national headlines when it housed Ishi^[6], the last member of the American Indian Yahi tribe. Ishi would live on the Parnassus campus for five years before dying of tuberculosis. In 1914 the Hooper Foundation for Medical Research was established. A pavilion-style 225-bed hospital, designed by Bernard Maybeck^[7], opened in 1917.

In 1949 the UC Regents renamed the Parnassus campus the University of California Medical Center (UCMC) and a decade later the entire medical school was moved to the San Francisco site.

Here’s something that you would never see today: when my mother Anne was in high school in the mid 1950s, she and some of her friends attended a western-themed party at UCMC’s College of Pharmacology. At some point the party moved to the street and “held up” the Judah streetcar line with their plastic guns. Everyone, including the conductor, joined in on the fun.

In 1964 UCMC became the 9th UC campus and the name changed to the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center (SFMC). In 1970 SFMC’s name changed again to the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). In 1976 UCSF designated Mount Sutro an open space reserve that remains today.

As the campus grew, UCSF expanded into other locations: in 1985 it bought a building in Laurel Heights, in 1990 it purchased Mount Zion Hospital in the Western Addition, and in 1990 it purchased 57 acres in Mission Bay and built the Cardiovascular Research Building, Benioff Children’s Hospital, Sandler Neuroscience Center and the Baker Cancer Hospital.

Today UCSF is at the forefront of biomedical technology, research, education and healthcare, with Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy^[8]. It has been recognized for its advances in patient care, diagnostics and treatment. There are currently 25,000 UCSF employees, and it continues to service San Francisco General Hospital and the San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center.

In June 2020 UCSF was one of many victims of malware attacks that disabled its computer systems. It paid $1.1 million in bitcoin to regain access.

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[1] North Beach: story coming June 7th

[2] Adolph Sutro: story coming March 14th

[3] Golden Gate Park: story coming April 4th

[4] San Francisco General Hospital: story coming January 26th

[5] 1906 Earthquake and Fires: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=2849

[6] Ishi: story coming March 25th

[7] Bernard Maybeck: story coming July 14th

[8] Visit them at www.ucsf.edu

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