Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Encyclopedia
Harbor–UCLA Medical Center is a 570-bed public teaching hospital
located at 1000 West Carson Street within the unincorporated
Los Angeles County
area of West Carson, California
. (The mail is handled by the post office
in Torrance
, which is used as the mailing address.) Harbor-UCLA is funded by the County of Los Angeles, and serves as the Level I Trauma Center for the South Bay
area.
's Port of Embarkation Hospital, which was a receiving point for the wounded returned from the Pacific theater
during World War II
. Situated on a tract of 80 acre (0.3237488 km²), it had an administration building and a large number of barracks wards arranged under the cottage system.
In February 1946, the county purchased the facility from the Federal Government
in order to decentralize the activities of the Los Angeles County General Hospital
, one of the largest institutions of its kind in the world, and founded a branch hospital to serve the Harbor
and Long Beach
.
The Los Angeles County Harbor General Hospital began its affiliation with UCLA School of Medicine in 1951. Construction of the present eight-story hospital building was completed in 1962 on the easterly portion of the grounds, at Carson Street and Vermont Avenue, replacing a number of the wooden barracks and cottages comprising Harbor General.
Affiliation with the UCLA School of Dentistry was established in 1972. In 1978, the name of the hospital was changed to Los Angeles County Harbor–UCLA Medical Center in order to draw attention to its working relationship with the UCLA School of Medicine.
The main building was portrayed as Rampart General Hospital in the popular TV series Emergency!
(1972 to 1979).
Harbor–UCLA Medical Center is home of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute
(also known as LA BioMed), which is one of the largest independent, not-for-profit biomedical research institutes in the United States. Originally known as Harbor-UCLA Research and Education Institute (REI), the LA BioMed has been conducting biomedical research, training young scientists and providing community services, including childhood immunization
, nutrition
assistance and anti-gang violence programs over the past 50 years.
This scientific breakthrough established standards and became an agent of change for women suffering from the afflictions of infertility and for women who did not want to pass on genetic disorders to their children. Donor embryo transfer has given women a mechanism to become pregnant and give birth to a child that will contain their husband's genetic makeup. Although donor embryo transfer as practiced today has evolved from the original non-surgical method, it now accounts for approximately 5% of in vitro fertilization recorded births.
This work established the technical foundation and legal-ethical framework surrounding the clinical use of human oocyte
and embryo donation, a mainstream clinical practice, which has evolved over the past 25 years.
Building upon Dr. Buster's groundbreaking research and since the initial birth announcement in 1984, well over 47,000 live births resulting from donor embryo transfer have been and continue to be recorded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States to infertile women, who otherwise would not have had children by any other existing method.
Teaching hospital
A teaching hospital is a hospital that provides clinical education and training to future and current doctors, nurses, and other health professionals, in addition to delivering medical care to patients...
located at 1000 West Carson Street within the unincorporated
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...
area of West Carson, California
West Carson, California
West Carson is a census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, USA. The population was 21,699 at the 2010 census, up from 21,138 at the 2000 census...
. (The mail is handled by the post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
in Torrance
Torrance, California
Torrance is a city incorporated in 1921 and located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Torrance has of shore-front beaches on the Pacific Ocean, quieter and less well-known by tourists than others on the Santa Monica Bay, such as those of neighboring...
, which is used as the mailing address.) Harbor-UCLA is funded by the County of Los Angeles, and serves as the Level I Trauma Center for the South Bay
South Bay, Los Angeles
The South Bay is a region of the southwest peninsula of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The name stems from its geographic features stretching along the southern shores of Santa Monica Bay which forms its western border.The picture at right uses the broadest definition of the...
area.
Mission statement
"The mission of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is to provide high quality, cost-effective, patient-centered care through leadership in medical practice, education, and research. Services are provided through an integrated health care system to residents of Los Angeles County regardless of ability to pay."History
A medical facility was originally opened on the site in 1943 as the U.S. ArmyUnited States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
's Port of Embarkation Hospital, which was a receiving point for the wounded returned from the Pacific theater
Pacific Ocean theater of World War II
The Pacific Ocean theatre was one of four major naval theatres of war of World War II, which pitted the forces of Japan against those of the United States, the British Commonwealth, the Netherlands and France....
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Situated on a tract of 80 acre (0.3237488 km²), it had an administration building and a large number of barracks wards arranged under the cottage system.
In February 1946, the county purchased the facility from the Federal Government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
in order to decentralize the activities of the Los Angeles County General Hospital
Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center
Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, also known as County/USC, by the abbreviation LAC+USC, or by the name Los Angeles County General, is a 600-bed public teaching hospital located in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California...
, one of the largest institutions of its kind in the world, and founded a branch hospital to serve the Harbor
Port of Los Angeles
The Port of Los Angeles, also called Los Angeles Harbor and WORLDPORT L.A, is a port complex that occupies of land and water along of waterfront. The port is located on San Pedro Bay in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles, approximately south of downtown...
and Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
.
The Los Angeles County Harbor General Hospital began its affiliation with UCLA School of Medicine in 1951. Construction of the present eight-story hospital building was completed in 1962 on the easterly portion of the grounds, at Carson Street and Vermont Avenue, replacing a number of the wooden barracks and cottages comprising Harbor General.
Affiliation with the UCLA School of Dentistry was established in 1972. In 1978, the name of the hospital was changed to Los Angeles County Harbor–UCLA Medical Center in order to draw attention to its working relationship with the UCLA School of Medicine.
The main building was portrayed as Rampart General Hospital in the popular TV series Emergency!
Emergency!
Emergency! is an American television series that combines the medical drama and action-adventure genres. It was produced by Mark VII Limited and distributed by Universal Studios...
(1972 to 1979).
Harbor–UCLA Medical Center is home of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute
Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute
The Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is one of the largest independent, nonprofit biomedical research institutes in the United States....
(also known as LA BioMed), which is one of the largest independent, not-for-profit biomedical research institutes in the United States. Originally known as Harbor-UCLA Research and Education Institute (REI), the LA BioMed has been conducting biomedical research, training young scientists and providing community services, including childhood immunization
Immunization
Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an agent ....
, nutrition
Nutrition
Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
assistance and anti-gang violence programs over the past 50 years.
Innovations
Pioneering research in many fields such as reproductive endocrinology, genetics, infectious diseases, trauma and respiratory medicine has brought worldwide attention to the Harbor-UCLA campus. Among the major milestones are:- In 1984, Harbor-UCLA was the first institution in the world to achieve successful pregnancies using the technique of ovum transfer. The research team was directed by Dr. John BusterJohn BusterJohn Edmond Buster, M.D., working at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, directed the research team that performed history's first embryo transfer from one woman to another resulting in a live birth...
that performed history's first embryo transferEmbryo transferEmbryo transfer refers to a step in the process of assisted reproduction in which embryos are placed into the uterus of a female with the intent to establish a pregnancy...
from one women to another resulting in a live birth and led to the announcement on February 3, 1984. In the procedure, an embryoEmbryoAn embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination...
that was just beginning to develop was transferred from one woman in whom it had been conceived by artificial inseminationArtificial inseminationArtificial insemination, or AI, is the process by which sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female for the purpose of impregnating the female by using means other than sexual intercourse or natural insemination...
to another woman who gave birth to the infant 38 weeks later. The sperm used in the artificial insemination came from the husband of the woman who bore the baby.
This scientific breakthrough established standards and became an agent of change for women suffering from the afflictions of infertility and for women who did not want to pass on genetic disorders to their children. Donor embryo transfer has given women a mechanism to become pregnant and give birth to a child that will contain their husband's genetic makeup. Although donor embryo transfer as practiced today has evolved from the original non-surgical method, it now accounts for approximately 5% of in vitro fertilization recorded births.
This work established the technical foundation and legal-ethical framework surrounding the clinical use of human oocyte
Oocyte
An oocyte, ovocyte, or rarely ocyte, is a female gametocyte or germ cell involved in reproduction. In other words, it is an immature ovum, or egg cell. An oocyte is produced in the ovary during female gametogenesis. The female germ cells produce a primordial germ cell which undergoes a mitotic...
and embryo donation, a mainstream clinical practice, which has evolved over the past 25 years.
Building upon Dr. Buster's groundbreaking research and since the initial birth announcement in 1984, well over 47,000 live births resulting from donor embryo transfer have been and continue to be recorded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States to infertile women, who otherwise would not have had children by any other existing method.
- The discovery by A.F. Parlow, PhD of the molecular structure of the human follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone. Dr. Parlow also developed an antisera which made possible neonatal screening for hypothyroidism, a common cause of mental retardation. The Parlow Pituitary Hormone and Antisera Laboratory produces highly purified pituitary components which are used in research and therapy around the world. One of the hormones produced, human growth hormone, is used to prevent severe growth retardation in thousands of children around the world.
- Internationally renowned genetics research to help treat and prevent short stature, led by Dr. David Rimoin. He was responsible for early work on disorders of growth hormone metabolism, for expanding the knowledge of dwarfism and developing the $2.2 million Skeletal Dysplasia Center at Harbor-UCLA.
- Dr. John Michael Criley's cardiac research into improved cardiac resuscitation techniques and better training of emergency paramedics, leading to the country's first hospital-based paramedic training program.
- A major discovery in defining the basic biochemical defect in a skin disease, known as x-linked ichthyosis. Dr. Larry Shapiro's discovery that this was a hereditary disease was a significant breakthrough and led to improved treatment strategies.
- Dr. Michael Kaback's advances in developing and improving screening for Tay-Sachs diseaseTay-Sachs diseaseTay–Sachs disease is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder...
, an inherited, fatal disorder. Harbor-UCLA has become the headquarters for the California and international screening programs for the disease.
- Definitive studies of lung surfactant have resulted in saving the lives of thousands of premature infants who would have died because of immature lungs.
- The establishment of the UCLA Center for Vaccine Research. Work at the center has contributed to the licensure of several new vaccines and to the establishment of new national recommendations for childhood immunizations. These new vaccines have protected millions of newborns, children and adults from diseases such as meningitis, whooping cough and pneumonia.
- The development of scintimammography to detect breast cancer without invasive biopsies, is one of the many imaging procedures developed at Harbor-UCLA.
- A detachable balloon catheter, an artificial elbow, and an implant for use in maxillofacial surgery, are among the many devices developed here.
- The receipt of a $1,000,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson FoundationRobert Wood Johnson FoundationThe Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the United States' largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care; it is based in Princeton, New Jersey. The foundation's mission is to improve the health and health care of all Americans...
and the Pew Charitable TrustsThe Pew Charitable TrustsThe Pew Charitable Trusts is an independent non-profit, non-governmental organization , founded in 1948. With over US$5 billion in assets, its current mission is to serve the public interest by "improving public policy, informing the public, and stimulating civic life."-History:The Trusts, a single...
to redesign how patient care is delivered. Harbor-UCLA was one of 20 hospitals nationwide—and the only one on the West CoastWest Coast of the United StatesWest Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
—to be awarded the grant. As a result, culture shifts occurred which emphasize leadership, community and the development of interdisciplinary collaboration. The grant also provided seed money and resources to assist with individual and group development.
See also
- Los Angeles Biomedical Research InstituteLos Angeles Biomedical Research InstituteThe Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is one of the largest independent, nonprofit biomedical research institutes in the United States....
- Hospitals in California
- Olive View-UCLA Medical CenterOlive View-UCLA Medical CenterOlive View-UCLA Medical Center is a hospital, funded by Los Angeles County, located in the Sylmar neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It is one of the primary healthcare delivery systems in the north San Fernando Valley, especially the area's large indigent population...
- Santa Monica-UCLA Medical CenterSanta Monica-UCLA Medical CenterThe Santa Monica–UCLA Medical Center is a hospital located within the city of Santa Monica, California, USA. The hospital was founded in 1926, and is a member of the UCLA Health System...
- UCLA Medical Center