The University of Arizona Medical Center's parent corporation, The University of Arizona Health Network, was formed in 2010 as a merger between the hospital's predecessor, University Medical Center, and University Physicians Healthcare. Today, the main campus, opened in 1971, has 479 beds and has become a leading provider in the Southwest.
U.S. News & World Report ranked the hospital second in the state for overall care. The University of Arizona Medical Center also holds the 30th and 34th spots, respectively, for geriatric care and otolaryngology. The academic medical center was the first hospital in Arizona to be designated a Magnet hospital for nursing excellence, and it has received several other awards from the University HealthSystem Consortium, CareChex and accreditation agencies.
The University of Arizona Medical Center is perhaps best known for treating U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and other victims of the 2011 Tucson-area shooting. G. Michael Lemole Jr., MD, chief of the division of neurosurgery and chief of staff, was the physician who operated on Ms. Giffords. University of Arizona Medical Center physicians also helped commercialize the CardioWest Total Artificial Heart, which is implantable and intended to keep hospitalized patients alive as they wait for a heart transplant.
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