In the wake of a fiscally successful year, the UCLA Hospital System has transferred more than $53 million to the David Geffen School of Medicine and pledged $1 million to advance Chancellor Gene Block’s Bruin Scholars Initiative.
“We’re very excited that we have an additional contribution,” said Block. “This is a very good year for the medical center, and they feel they’re able to help the students of the university, which we’re grateful for.”
The School of Medicine’s funds will support education and training programs for both students and clinical faculty, said Carol Stogsdill, a university spokeswoman, in an e-mailed statement.
She added that these funds helped the school deal with the decrease in state funding.
On the other hand, the hospital system’s $1 million pledge will be split into two separate amounts ““ $600,000 will go toward students at the School of Medicine, and $400,000 will benefit undergraduate students interested in medicine, nursing or health-related careers, Stogsdill said.
This funding is part of the Bruin Scholars Initiative, which aims to provide $500 million in graduate student fellowships and undergraduate scholarships, according to the program’s Web site.
This year, the UCLA hospital system operated near capacity and utilized money-saving strategies such as group-purchasing efforts with other UC medical centers, Stogsdill said.
As a result, she said, the 2008-2009 fiscal year was the most profitable in the history of the system.
Block said monetary contributions from the hospital are not uncommon.
“Keep in mind that every year they turn over millions of dollars to the School of Medicine,” he said. “So it’s unprecedented in the sense that it’s an extra donation, … but normally through their support of the medical school, I believe they do support education. I think in that sense, it’s not unprecedented.”
The announcement comes in the midst of the UC Board of Regents’ approval of performance-based pay for senior management at UC hospitals and medical centers.
With reports from Laura Belyavski, Bruin senior staff