Ambassador of the Month Archive

UCI Health to Hire 60 Doctors Devoted to Internal, Family & Geriatric Medicine Over the Next Five Years

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Long known for its more than 500 world-class specialists who treat the most complex conditions, UCI Health is on a mission to expand its primary care services. Dr. Matthew Boone was recruited last fall from USC’s Keck School of Medicine to oversee this mission. Boone is no stranger to Orange County, having run and been affiliated with many of the county’s medical groups and hospitals over the last 30 years. “I always felt that primary care at UCI was an underdeveloped gem,” says Boone, who is associate dean of clinical affairs and a professor at the UCI School of Medicine. “Its reputation wa...

Bryan Starr Touts Irvine’s Resilience in Irvine Standard

Wednesday, June 24, 2020

(As published in the Irvine Standard) Strong communities are made up of resilient and innovative individuals and businesses – those that courageously continue to work to find solutions, especially during times of crisis. Irvine is perhaps better positioned to weather disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic than any other city. The visionary Irvine Master Plan, established 60 years ago, and responsible city management throughout our city’s history has laid the groundwork for the best possible outcome of these unprecedented circumstances. World-Class Health Care Irvine is further bolstered by world-class health care institutions and medical personnel – all that are addressing COVID-19 and coming u...

Orange County Officials Called Upon to Reinstate Mask Mandate

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

(Orange County Register) Days after Orange County’s health officer announced he was nixing the requirement that everyone wear face coverings in public, supporters of the rule gathered to urge county officials to reconsider to help curb the spread of the Coronavirus. A coalition of 10 labor groups, as well as faith leaders and residents, held a press conference Tuesday, June 15, in front of the building where the Orange County Board of Supervisors meet – and where, in recent weeks, the county leaders have been listening to a parade of residents lambasting them over the mask mandate. “We felt it was important to sho...

Kaiser Begins Reopening Closed Clinics in Orange County, Starting With La Palma

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

(Orange County Register) Kaiser Permanente is starting to re-open medical offices in Orange County that it shuttered in March, when the coronavirus pandemic was expected to swamp local hospitals. The company said this week that it reopened its medical office in La Palma to staff, and is preparing to let patients back to other temporarily shuttered local clinics. A few specialty departments at the La Palma clinic — ophthalmology, optometry, pediatrics, and podiatry — opened Monday, June 8, and family medicine opened Wednesday, said Kaiser spokesman John Stratman. “La Palma staff are slowly returning back to work as we gradually reopen to full capacity,&rdquo...

California Coronavirus Surge Tied to Increase In Testing, Not Reopening Businesses, Official Says

Monday, June 15, 2020

(LA Times) California continues to see big increases in Coronavirus cases as its death toll approaches 5,000, causing alarm from some as the state continues to reopen its economy. But are caseloads the best measure of how well California is controlling COVID-19? Not necessarily, one of California’s top health officials said as he announced a new round of businesses that are eligible for reopening, including nail salons. The move came as the state reported two consecutive record single-day increases in coronavirus cases, logging 3,620 new cases June 11 and 3,644 June 12. Los Angeles County, which remains California’s leading virus hot spot, recorded 1,84...

A Healthy Market for Healthcare Development

Tuesday, June 09, 2020

(Orange County Business Journal) Orange County has seen a consistent batch of new office product built over the latter part of the latest market cycle, adding several million square feet of high-end inventory in markets including Irvine, Tustin, and Newport Center. The cycle has been a boon to multifamily developers, too, with thousands of mid-rise units springing up in former commercial spots across the county. With a pandemic-created recession now in its early stages, and questions over the length and severity of its impact, a different sector looks poised to withstand a likely decline in new construction: healthcare. Several billion dollars’ worth o...

California Public Health Officials Provide COVID-19 Update

Tuesday, June 09, 2020

The California Department of Public Health announced the most recent statistics on COVID-19. California has 122,901 confirmed cases and 4,485 deaths. To date 2,238,463 tests conducted in California, with an increase of 55,792 tests over the prior 24-hour reporting period. As testing capacity continues to increase across the state, an increase in the number of positive cases has been expected. However California remains in the range of stability for case positivity rate and COVID-19 related hospitalizations. Despite increased testing and the reopening of certain sectors of the economy, California’s case positivity rate is at 4.5% and the number of hospitalizations has decrease...

O.C. Chief Health Officer Dr. Nichole Quick Leaves Post

Tuesday, June 09, 2020

(Orange County Register) Orange County’s chief health officer, Dr. Nichole Quick, resigned Monday night. She has faced push back from some members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors and criticism from residents for her order last month to require face coverings for the public as the county allowed some businesses to reopen. Quick was receiving heightened security due to threats stemming from her mask order. The county provided a copy of an agreement releasing Quick from the job she was appointed to in June 2019. The agreement says the county will pay Quick $75,000 in severance and CEO Frank Kim won’t disparage Quick’s work; i...

Larry L. Zeiber Leads Philanthropic Wave of Support for City of Hope Orange County

Monday, June 08, 2020

Larry L. Zeiber has joined City of Hope as the vice president of philanthropy for Orange County, where he is leading fundraising for the $1 billion world-class campus underway in Irvine. The much-anticipated campus will feature the latest in cancer research and treatment, changing the way cancer care is delivered across the region. “City of Hope’s medical breakthroughs are fueled by generous philanthropic donations. That generosity thrives in Orange County, where we have already seen incredible enthusiasm from many diverse donors,” said Kristin Bertell, chief philanthropy officer, City of Hope. “With Larry on board, we now have a driving force wh...

Blu-Ray Disc Lasers Could Help Kill the Coronavirus, According to UC Irvine Researchers

Tuesday, June 02, 2020

(LA Times) UC Irvine researchers are investigating whether the lasers inside Blu-ray players can be used as a disinfectant to fight the spread of the Coronavirus. UCI professor Chris Barty, who is leading the research team, envisions lasers in ventilation systems disinfecting the air, lasers as small as a key fob that could be used to sanitize hands and lasers built into face masks that clean the air as it filters through. “You can imagine many many ways you could deploy the technology if it’s cheap enough,” Barty said. When combined with special crystals, the Blu-ray lasers can convert to UVC light, which ha...

Edwards Adds Another Office to Portfolio

Tuesday, June 02, 2020

(Orange County Business Journal) Edwards Lifesciences Corp., Orange County’s largest publicly traded company, has added another office building to its rapidly expanding headquarters campus. The medical device maker recently completed the purchase of 3009 Daimler St., a roughly 52,000-square-foot building that sits on the Santa Ana side of Alton Parkway, near Red Hill Avenue. Edwards’ main campus is in Irvine. $65M+ of Deals Edwards makes products for treating structural heart disease, specializing in artificial heart valves, as well as critical care and surgical monitoring devices. It’s valued at nearly $45 billion; its shares are up some 30% over the past year. It has been an activ...

Can’t Stay 6 Feet Away? Masks or Face Coverings Now a Must, OC Health Order Says

Monday, June 01, 2020

(Orange County Register) To mask or not to mask? Orange County has made it simpler to answer that question with a public health order that requires masks or cloth face coverings for everyone when they’re in public, in a store, restaurant or office, or anywhere else that they can’t keep a distance from people outside their family or household. The order, issued recently by County Health Officer Dr. Nichole Quick, is the latest directive intended to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, which can cause respiratory illness and complications ranging from mild to severe. County supervisors faced blow back from angry residents at their meetin...

Irvine City Council Does Not Reach Agreement for COVID-19 Testing

Monday, June 01, 2020

At its meeting on May 26, the Irvine City Council unanimously voted to not approve a contract with US Health Fairs for drive-up COVID-19 testing after it could not reach an agreement with the nonprofit organization. The Council also directed city staff to continue with vigorous efforts to find and implement a universal COVID-19 testing program for Irvine which will provide quality testing that protects the health and well-being of Irvine residents. COVID-19 testing is currently provided for many, but not all, residents through the County of Orange and the state at multiple locations. No-cost testing is available for symptomatic and asymptomatic healt...

City of Hope Completes Irvine Land, Office Buy

Friday, May 29, 2020

(Orange County Business Journal) City of Hope’s plans for building a comprehensive cancer center at Irvine’s Great Park Neighborhoods took a big step forward after it completed the acquisition of property at the city’s FivePoint Gateway office campus. City of Hope, a research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes, and other life-threatening diseases with its main campus in Duarte, bought a 190,000 square foot, four-story building at the Irvine site, and 11 acres of adjacent land. A deal had been in the works for over a year. The final price comes out to $108 million, according to Irvine’s FivePoint Holdings LLC, the maste...

Orange County is Built for Resilience

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

By Bryan Starr, President & CEO, Greater Irvine Chamber | Published in the May 25 issue of the Orange County Business Journal By many estimates, California is better positioned for economic recovery as we emerge from the Coronavirus crisis than any other state in the nation. While the state isn’t quite yet out of the woods, Orange County itself is ready to open. Monitoring trend lines of the disease to determine when and how to reopen business is a smart strategy. How we will fare is not purely a numbers game, however. Where the Golden State really shines—always, but particularly in times of crisis—i...

Hospitals Reopening for Non-COVID-19 Work

Friday, May 22, 2020

(OC Business Journal) Orange County’s hospitals are returning to normal, in phases, as a feared surge of Coronavirus patients has not occurred. “UCI Health is fully operational and providing all levels of care in a safe environment for patients and staff,” Chad Lefteris, CEO, UCI Health, told the Business Journal. OC hospitals are a huge industry unto themselves. According to the Business Journal’s annual list, 31 facilities reported $9.1 billion in net patient revenue for the 12 months ended Sept. 30. That amounted to about $758 million a month. Last year, they handled 1.37 million patient days and 3.7 million outpatient visits. The hospitals, which hav...

Orange County Names New Health Care Agency Head

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

(Orange County Register) Dr. Clayton Chau, who previously spent more than a decade in the Orange County Health Care Agency’s behavioral health division, has been named the agency’s new director. The county announced the selection of Chau on Monday, April 27 – about a month after the position opened up when Richard Sanchez left it to head CalOptima, which provides health insurance to the county’s low-income residents. “Dr. Chau brings a wealth of experience to HCA, particularly within the realm of behavioral health. I look forward to working with him on tackling our greatest healthcare issues,” county CEO Frank Kim said in ...

Irvine Teen Creates COVID-19 Donation Clearinghouse Website

Monday, April 13, 2020

Like a lot of seniors in Irvine high schools, Jackie Ni should be looking forward to prom and graduation right now, but because of stay-in-place orders, that's not happening. Instead, he's using his time for homeschooling and combating COVID-19, “one crate at a time.” In just a few short weeks, the Sage Hill High School senior has developed a website, supplycrate.org, that offers a transparent and efficient way for individuals and organizations to make medical supply donations. So far, through his website, more than 136,000 masks, from medical-grade N95's to fabric face coverings, have been collected. While there are websites that match donor...

UCI Beall Applied Innovation Invites Community to Share COVID-19 Response Ideas

Monday, April 06, 2020

UCI Beall Applied Innovation has issued an invitation to the UCI community to share their ideas for the fight against COVID-19. “We are in the midst of a pandemic and we know that there is an entrepreneur, industry collaborator, faculty researcher, student innovator, or funding partner that has developed an idea or prototype or concept that might play a role in slowing the spread of COVID-19 or curing those ailing because of it,” said Executive Officer Richard Sudek. Contact one of UCI Beall Applied Innovation’s experts below with your startup, product idea, or resource need related to COVID-19. Whether you’re an individual...

UCI Health Names Chad Lefteris as New CEO

Monday, April 06, 2020

The UC Irvine health system has named Chad Lefteris as its new chief executive. Lefteris will oversee the overall UCI Health operation, which includes UCI Medical Center in Orange and more than a dozen outpatient research and specialty care centers throughout Orange County and parts of Riverside County. He has been UCI Health’s chief operating officer since December 2018. His appointment as CEO comes amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. UCI announced that it is participating in a clinical trial to test the antiviral drug remdesivir as a potential treatment for COVID-19. “After a nationwide search, the search committee identified the ideal candidate within ou...

UCI Researchers Will Test Former Ebola Drug as Part of Coronavirus Clinical Trial

Monday, March 23, 2020

Everybody is hoping for a miracle drug to treat COVID-19, the disease caused by the infectious novel coronavirus. Now, researchers at UC Irvine have a shot at helping to find it. As part of a national clinical trial, the Orange County team of medical scientists are authorized to use the anti-viral drug remdesivir — once developed to treat the Ebola virus — on certain COVID-19 patients hospitalized at UCI Medical Center in Orange. The study’s goal, over an unspecified period of time, will be to determine the drug’s effectiveness against a disease that has already killed more than 11,000 people. The research i...

Innovation Drives Orange County’s World-Renowned Cancer Care and Healthcare

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

By Bryan Starr, President and CEO, Greater Irvine Chamber Innovation is the key to Orange County’s exceptional healthcare and is what sets our healthcare and its delivery far apart from other parts of the nation and the world. Patients accessing healthcare in Irvine, from routine maintenance to advanced disease treatment, receive top care delivered by some of the world’s most expert practitioners using the latest science and technology. The following are some of the ways Greater Irvine Chamber-partner healthcare institutions are at the leading edge of medical research and patient care in Irvine and Orange County. Cancer Care City of Hope, named the bes...

UC Irvine Set to Start Construction on $185-Million Health Sciences Complex

Monday, February 24, 2020

UC Irvine will begin construction this month on a state-of-the-art 9-acre health sciences complex for integrative patient care, training, and research. The initial work will be site preparation, with groundbreaking expected later this year, probably in the fall, according to university spokesman Tom Vasich. The site — on the corner of Bison and California avenues adjacent to the UCI Research Park — will include a five-level, 108,200-square-foot building for the Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences and an adjoining four-level, 71,500-square-foot building for the Sue and Bill Gross School of Nursing. The health sciences building will house the Susan Samuel...

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