A letter from our leadership

Welcome

All of us at UC Davis Children’s Hospital are enormously proud that we’ve had yet another outstanding year, and we’re thankful for the extraordinary work and dedication that our talented faculty members and care teams continue to display.

During this past year, we expanded our leadership team and are honored to welcome UC Davis pediatric gastroenterologist Daphne Say as vice chair of ambulatory operations, pediatric critical care physician JoAnne Natale as associate chief medical officer for children’s health, and Ann Tompkins as ambulatory operations director of women’s and children’s services.

We’ve also drawn more national recognition in patient care, research, and quality improvement initiatives. Recognition is important to our mission, but what we are most proud of is the world-class care and comfort we continue to provide to children and their families at our nationally ranked pediatric academic hospital.

Here are some of the reasons our care resonates both nationally and locally. We were ranked in three pediatric specialties and among the Best Children’s Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. Our hospital was also once again ranked among the nation’s elite institutions for valuing the nursing profession, earning its third Magnet® Designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, and our level I Children’s Surgery Center’s PACU received a silver-level Beacon Award for Excellence by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

In addition, our clinician-scientists continue to successfully develop one-of-a-kind treatments, such as the world’s first human clinical trial using stem cells to treat spina bifida before birth and the first in California to offer life-changing therapy for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

This year, our partnerships with outlying and community hospitals have also expanded. We’ve partnered at a second location with the Sacramento Native American Health Center to improve access to pediatric services, and have continued to keep families closer to home through telehealth and our Regional NICU Network, which is comprised of seven Northern California hospitals.

For referring providers and families in our 33-county, 65,000-square-mile service area, we hope these highlights and others in this report will continue to affirm the trust you place in us.

As always, thank you for your support and partnership!