UCI Medical Center Irvine-Newport

I am delighted to announce that this afternoon the University of California board of regents approved the construction of a state-of-the-art medical complex on the northern edge of our campus, along Jamboree Road near Campus Drive. The complex includes a 144-bed acute-care hospital, an ambulatory care center and a cancer center.

The new UCI Medical Center Irvine-Newport will be a full-service academic health complex that brings a broad array of leading-edge healthcare services to coastal and southern Orange County. The hospital will focus on key clinical areas such as oncology, neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedics and digestive health, and include a 24-hour emergency department. The medical complex will include the previously announced UCI Center for Advanced Care, the Center for Children’s Health, urgent care, wellness programs, specialty disciplines, research and clinical trials.

The UCI Medical Center Irvine-Newport is located within UCI Presidential Gateway, named in commemoration of President Lyndon Johnson’s attendance at the university’s dedication in 1964. The 202-acre site will include educational programs, uplifting art, healing gardens, nature trails and a research preserve within the San Joaquin Marsh Reserve.

The health and wellbeing of the 3.3 million residents of Orange County are at the core of UCI’s public service mission. UCI Health serves more than 1 million patients each year. Our academic medical center in Orange features the 411-bed acute care Douglas Hospital, the county’s only Level 1 trauma center and its only nationally-designated comprehensive cancer center, as well as operating primary and specialty care centers throughout the region. The UCI Medical Center Irvine-Newport expands and enhances this existing health network, bringing the highest-quality prevention and treatment methods, fueled by the power and innovation of UCI and UC research, to our friends and neighbors in south Orange County.

Today’s approval marks a major step toward realizing one of the central goals of our Brilliant Future campaign. Planning for the new complex is underway, with completion targeted for 2025. Construction of the first element, the UCI Health Center for Advanced Care, will begin later this year, with the first patients expected in late 2022, pending legal and regulatory approval.

I am grateful to Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs Steve Goldstein, Chief Financial Officer and Vice Chancellor Ron Cortez, UCI Health CEO Chad Lefteris and all our UCI colleagues who have helped advance this vital project.

Chancellor Howard Gillman