UCLA Health

Our Mission

For more than half a century, UCLA Health has provided the best in healthcare and the latest in medical technology to the people of Los Angeles and throughout the world. Comprised of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica, Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA, Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA, and the UCLA Medical Group with its wide-reaching system of primary-care and specialty-care offices throughout the region, UCLA Health System is among the most comprehensive and advanced healthcare systems in the world. Our physicians are world leaders in the diagnosis and treatment of complex illnesses, and our hospitals are among the best in the country. Consistently ranked one of the top five hospitals in the nation and the best medical center in the western United States by U.S. News

Activity

  • UCLA Health
    UCLA Health answered:

    How can a medical home help someone with a complex medical condition?

    Kellie Ernzen Kruger, M.D., an internist and pediatrician at UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica, says she has noticed significant improvement in the quality of care complex patients are provided through the medical-home concept. “When you are a primary-care provider trying to coordinate care for patients with complicated...Read More
  • UCLA Health
    UCLA Health answered:

    How can I stay injury-free while training for a marathon?

    “In the months leading up to a marathon, we often see people coming in with overuse injuries because they are ramping up their mileage too quickly,” says David R. McAllister, MD, chief of the Sports Medicine Service in the UCLA Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. But most injuries can be avoided with...Read More
  • UCLA Health
    UCLA Health answered:

    Why have the CPR guidelines changed?

    In part, the change in the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) guidelines reflects a concern that most victims of cardiac arrest fail to receive any CPR from bystanders in the critical minutes after their heart stops. “A lot of people don’t want to do mouth-to-mouth, either because they fear catching a disease or...Read More
  • UCLA Health
    UCLA Health answered:

    How is bipolar disorder diagnosed in children?

    Bipolar disorder can be experienced by both children and adults. “Children with bipolar disorder often experience symptoms differently than adults, and they may also have more difficulty explaining how they feel,” says David J. Miklowitz, PhD, director of the Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders Program at UCLA. “To make what...Read More
  • UCLA Health
    UCLA Health answered:

    What are possible side effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)?

    Side effects of today’s electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatment are well understood and mostly time-limited. There is a period of disorientation immediately after the therapy; this usually resolves over the course of the day, Randall Espinoza, M.D., M.P.H., medical director of the Electroconvulsive...Read More
  • UCLA Health
    UCLA Health answered:

    How can I tell if I need to go to the emergency room?

    According to the National Center ffor Health Statistics, most emergency departments (EDs) use an acuity scale with three levels or more to evaluate the severity of each patient’s illness or condition. Patients are considered emergent if they have a problem that poses an immediate threat to life or...Read More
  • UCLA Health
    UCLA Health answered:

    What is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)?

    Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a hormone abnormality that affects as many as one in eight reproductive-aged women, is best known for its cosmetic effects -- male-pattern hair growth and acne -- but also is recognized for its gynecologic effects such as irregular menstruation and infertility. It...Read More
  • UCLA Health
    UCLA Health answered:

    How is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) treated?

    Although genetic factors are believed to make certain women more susceptible to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), Susan Davis, M.D., a UCLA endocrinologist, notes that lifestyle, including diet and exercise, plays an important role in its severity. In particular, excess weight exacerbates both the reproductive...Read More
  • UCLA Health
    UCLA Health answered:

    How is rituximab used for lymphoma?

    Rituximab is an antibody drug treatment that turns a person’s immune system against lymphatic cancer cells. These antibodies represent a more rational, targeted approach to killing the cancer cells without the side effects of chemotherapy.

    When rituximab was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as an antibody...Read More
  • UCLA Health
    UCLA Health answered:

    How can dental problems indicate diseases elsewhere in the body?

    David Wong, D.M.D., D.M.Sc., professor and associate dean of research at the UCLA School of Dentistry notes that systemic diseases such as HIV and osteoporosis are often first detected through symptoms in the mouth -- the appearance of hairy tongue and severe gum infection in the case of HIV and...Read More
  • UCLA Health
    UCLA Health answered:

    What are some of the risks of small-incision eye tumor surgery?

    Surgeons have used the small-incision approach to remove orbital tumors almost exclusively for the past 10 years, though these surgeries must sometimes be converted to large-incision operations in more difficult cases. Robert A. Goldberg, M.D., chief of orbital and ophthalmic plastic surgery and co-director...Read More
  • UCLA Health
    UCLA Health answered:

    Why is whooping cough dangerous for infants?

    Infants are particularly vulnerable to whooping cough for a number of reasons. As UCLA pediatric infectious-disease specialist James Cherry, MD, explains, "Infants can’t get their first vaccination until they are at least 6 weeks old, and they do not have adequate protection until about 7 months of age, after they...Read More
  • UCLA Health
    UCLA Health answered:

    What is helicopter parenting?

    Helicopter parenting is the term given to mothers and fathers who hover around their children and intervene in their lives at a level that is inappropriate to a child’s level of development.
    According to Frederick Frankel, PhD, co-director of the UCLA Parenting and Children’s Friendship Program, an outpatient clinic...Read More
  • UCLA Health
    UCLA Health answered:

    Can medication help prevent liver failure from an acetaminophen overdose?

    "People who go into acute liver failure from an acetaminophen overdose experience three phases," says Ronald Busuttil, MD, PhD, director of the Dumont-UCLA Transplant Center. In the first 24 hours, they may feel stomach pain and nausea. In the second phase, between 24 and 72 hours after ingestion,...Read More
  • UCLA Health
    UCLA Health answered:

    What are the advantages of being treated by a hospitalist?

    “As a general internist, 20 years ago you would have at least one patient to visit in the hospital every week, and sometimes several at a time,” says Jan Tillisch, M.D., executive vice chair of the UCLA Department of Medicine. “Today, an office-based physician may go several weeks without having a patient...Read More