UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital is part of the University of California, San Francisco, one of the world's leading research institutions in biomedical and health science. Over the years, research at UCSF has produced a steady stream of scientific knowledge and medical achievements that are saving lives and improving the health of millions of people.
UCSF has more than a thousand "principal" researchers and 3,000 ongoing research projects. In fact, UCSF is the second largest recipient nationwide of grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). UCSF received more than $460 million from NIH research and training grants, fellowships and other awards in 2008.
We're a center of innovation, transforming science for health care. Four UCSF scientists have won Nobel prizes for work leading to new ways to detect and treat cancer and for the discovery of prions, a new infectious agent implicated in brain diseases such as "mad cow" disease. Our researchers co-discovered embryonic stem cells that are the key to studying birth defects, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and more. And we pioneered the concept of hospital-based doctors who take charge of a patient's care from admission to discharge, reducing costs and medical errors.
Our patients have the opportunity to participate in clinical trials, which are studies to test the safety and effectiveness of new, experimental medications and treatments. Clinical trials make new drugs, therapies and surgical procedures available to patients before they're widely available to the general public.
For information about clinical trials, search our clinical trials directory, which includes information submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov, an NIH database. The NIH also has information about clinical trials.
UCSF also has a registry for clinical trial participants. The UCSF Research Participant Registry is a group of volunteers who want to be contacted about clinical research studies at UCSF. Volunteers don't have to have a medical condition to join the registry. Healthy volunteers are needed too. Based on answers to a health survey, volunteers will be matched to UCSF studies, depending on eligible criteria. Volunteers can sign-up online.
Clinical and Translational Science Institute
Contact Information
Research Participant Registry
Sign-up online
For help finding a doctor or other assistance, contact our Physician Referral Service at (888) 689-UCSF or (888) 689-8273.
Or send us an email.
See our online bookstore for a sampling of books written and recommended by our doctors, nurses and other health care staff.
