"Hot facts" about the University of Arizona College of Medicine
- Ideal location in the Arizona Health Sciences Center. Three other colleges (nursing, pharmacy, and public health) are right next door, and the College of Medicine shares a building with two nationally recognized medical centers: Banner – University Medical Center Tucson (BUMC) and Diamond Children’s Hospital.
- UA’s Sarver Heart Center is the home of Chest Compression Only CPR, which can double a person’s chance of surviving sudden cardiac arrest
- The student-led Commitment to Underserved People (CUP) Program provides direct insight into social, economic, and cultural factors that impact health and healthcare, as well as providing leadership opportunities through developing and operating the programs.
- The University of Arizona Cancer Center (UACC) is the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in Arizona and one of only 61 in the country.
- UA is developing “Smart Sox”, which use intelligent textiles to prevent amputation in diabetics.
- Diamond Children’s Pediatric Asthma Program is a JCAHO Gold Seal Program – one of only 9 in the nation.
- The College of Medicine is piloting multiple smoking cessation initiatives, including an app to remind patients to take cessation meds and training massage therapists, acupuncturists, and chiropractors to be advocates for smoking cessation.
- UA faculty and staff literally wrote the book on Native American women’s health.
- UA is quickly becoming a leader in minimally invasive and robot-assisted surgeries, allowing patients to recover faster and with lower risks.
- The Total Artificial Heart was invented at UA and now we train heart transplant teams from around the world on its use—including other top heart transplant programs like the Cleveland Clinic.
- BUMC is one of the only hospitals in the nation capable of transporting patients on ECMO support.
- UA hosted a simulated pandemic emergency program, bringing together students from all three state universities in Arizona—the first program of its kind in the country!
- The world’s first robotic total pancreatectomy with simultaneous autologous islet cell transplant took place at BUMC (formerly the University of Arizona Medical Center) in July 2012.
- Anascorp®, the first scorpion antivenin to be approved by the FDA, went through clinical trials at UA.
- The Heart Anatomy Explorer iPad app, designed at UA, allows medical students to look at a real human heart from all angles—without having to set foot in the anatomy lab!
- The COM elective "From Barnyard to Bedside: Honing Non-verbal Communication Skills" allows students to practice bedside manner on horses and was recently featured on NBC’s Today Show!
