Irvine joins UC health efforts

UCI broke ground on a $40.5-million medical building Friday that will host programs geared toward underserved communities and enable doctors to consult with patients statewide.

One of the programs prepares students to work in predominantly Latino communities. The University of California’s five medical universities are each focusing on a different underserved population, said David Bailey, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the school of medicine at UCI.

For example, UC Davis is focusing on bringing advanced medicine to rural communities, and the University of San Francisco is focusing on the urban homeless, Bailey said.

The Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community trains today’s future doctors to deal with cultural barriers. One of the highlights of their training is a six-week cultural exchange program in Mexico.

“Latinos are the largest population in California with barriers to health care,” said Charles Vega, the program’s director. “It is somewhere we thought we could make a difference.”

The program is only one of many uses for the 65,000-square-foot building, expected to open in fall 2009. The facility’s biggest innovation is its “telemedicine” technology, which allows physicians to treat a long-distance patient through video-feeds and other high-tech equipment, Bailey said.

Telemedicine uses wireless technology and digital images to advise and diagnose patients who live in areas where specialized health care may be scarce.

The building is the first facility dedicated solely to medicine in at least two decades at UCI, Bailey said.

“What this will do is be able to expand our care remotely or at a distance,” Bailey said. “Telemedicine is just a part of health care and education. Our students will be learning as well because we’re a teaching institution.”

The building will include a 60-seat interactive video center and clinical simulation lab.

“Just as pilots don’t start learning by flying a plane, our students will have mannequins and devices that create real situations,” Bailey said.

The environmentally friendly building received $35 million of its funding through Proposition 1D, which was approved last year. The remaining money comes from the school and private donations, school officials said.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.