Following more than 15 years of exceptional service as Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences (VCHS), David A. Brenner, M.D., will be stepping down from his office on June 30, 2022, to continue his teaching and research as a member of the School of Medicine’s faculty. VC Brenner is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine.
Since his appointment to the role in January 2007, VC Brenner’s rare combination of talents as a researcher, clinician, scholar and administrator led to transformational progress for the university’s tripartite mission of education, research and clinical care.
In education, Brenner’s leadership led to the opening of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science in 2019, the first new school on campus in 15 years. His goal to build a public health school for the 21st century resulted in a visionary institution that embodies a deep and enduring commitment to nurture and advance equity, diversity and inclusion that focuses on addressing and resolving the challenges and crises of public health, from racism to care disparities. Also under his leadership, UC San Diego School of Medicine’s curriculum was transformed into small group, case-based learning. Soon, Health Sciences will also launch a new physician assistant program to increase health care support.
In research, Brenner developed a strategic plan that focused on advancing health by analyzing big data through computational biology, which resulted in multidisciplinary research that continues to span UC San Diego and the surrounding research mesa. This effort resulted in the formation of the Institute for Engineering in Medicine, the Institute for Genomic Medicine, the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, the UC San Diego Sanford Clinical Stem Cell Program, the Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) and the C3 Cancer Center Consortium, comprising UC San Diego, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute.
Funding for health science research has increased, year after year during his tenure. In fiscal year 2020, Health Sciences accounted for 57 percent of research awards to UC San Diego, $762 million of a record-breaking $1.4 billion. Although one of the youngest schools in the nation, UC San Diego School of Medicine is ranked 5th in the country among public medical schools for National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. And the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science is among the top 20 nationally.
In clinical care, Brenner helped develop and launch the Jacobs Medical Center and the Koman Outpatient Pavilion, two shining pillars that marked the dramatic growth and development of UC San Diego Health as a destination health care system. Today, UC San Diego Health is ranked 1st in San Diego by U.S. News & World Report and among the nation’s top 10 academic medical centers for achieving the highest levels of quality and patient-centered outcomes for all patients by Vizient.
With the opening of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health, there are now three professional schools in Health Sciences and two health campuses — in Hillcrest and in La Jolla — which include the UC San Diego Medical Center, the Jacobs Medical Center, the Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, the Moores Cancer Center, the Shiley Eye Institute, ACTRI and the Koman Family Outpatient Pavilion, plus primary care and same-day clinics throughout Southern California.
The School of Medicine now boasts almost 1,700 faculty in 19 departments; almost 1,000 residents and fellows; and more than 530 medical students and 80 M.D.-Ph.D. students. The Skaggs School of Pharmacy has 55 faculty members and more than 250 students, plus 30 drug discovery labs. The Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health has 80 faculty, nearly 700 students and more than 50 funded research groups.
Growth of UC San Diego Health has been even more dramatic under VC Brenner, who has supervised five CEOs during his tenure. There are now more than 10,000 employees; 808 licensed beds — up from fewer than 400 in 2007; nearly 1 million outpatient visits and surgeries; more than 31,000 annual hospital admissions and an operating budget of more than $2 billion. In collaboration with ACTRI, the Health System manages roughly 2,400 clinical trials each year, enrolling more than 7,000 patients in novel treatments largely unavailable elsewhere.
VC Brenner has been a member or leader of multiple professional societies, among them the National Academy of Medicine; the American Society for Clinical Investigation; the Association of American Physicians; the American College of Physicians; the American Gastroenterological Association; and the American Clinical and Climatological Association. He currently serves on the scientific advisory board of several biotech companies, and on the boards of Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego, the La Jolla Institute of Immunology, the San Diego Opera and UC San Diego Athletics.
Upon stepping down as vice chancellor, VC Brenner will return to UC San Diego’s top-ranked faculty as a Distinguished Professor of Medicine, where he plans to teach and continue his research in gastroenterology.
UC San Diego will conduct a national search to fill the Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences position. Details are forthcoming.
Upon my request, VC Brenner has graciously agreed to serve as Special Adviser to the Chancellor for a period of 12 months beginning on July 1, 2022. In this role, he will assist with leadership transition and fundraising for Health Sciences.
VC Brenner has made a lasting impact on UC San Diego during his tenure and leaves an enduring legacy that positions UC San Diego Health Sciences well into the future. Please join me in expressing sincere gratitude to VC Brenner for his remarkable contributions to our university’s world-class health science enterprise.
