Re-verified as a level I Children’s Surgery Center
In fall 2019 UC Davis Children’s Hospital was re-verified as a level I Children’s Surgery Center by the American College of Surgeons (ACS), the world standard-bearer for surgical quality. We remain the first hospital on the West Coast, and one of only a dozen in the nation, to have earned this designation. Level I centers have children’s surgeons in every discipline, with pediatric anesthesiologists and dedicated operating rooms for children available 24 hours a day. They also train future leaders in education and research and participate in community outreach.
Unique Fetal Care and Treatment Center
As inland Northern California’s first comprehensive multidisciplinary fetal diagnosis and therapy center, the UC Davis Fetal Care and Treatment Center offers advancements in fetal surgery and maternal-fetal medicine that allow multiple avenues of intervention, including in utero or in real time during the birthing process. We are currently our region’s only center for on-site fetal surgery, and are proud to be one of a limited number of U.S. hospitals to offer these services for families facing conditions such as twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome and spina bifida.
Cure for spina bifida gets a step closer
The Fetal Care and Treatment Center also includes an extensive research program. Diana Farmer, our Children’s Hospital surgeon-in-chief and chair of UC Davis Health’s Department of Surgery, has led a spina bifida initiative and extensive research program for over a decade. Her team has demonstrated that surgery combined with stem cells helps canine patients with the disorder to walk without noticeable disability. Now, with the support of a $6 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), her new study involving fetal surgery and tissue engineered stem cell therapy holds the hope of providing what so many families are looking for — a cure.
