UCSF Health received a $60 million donation from Hyatt heir John Pritzker and his former wife Lisa Stone Pritzker to build a new 150,000-square-foot psychiatric building, the San Francisco-based system announced May 12.
Slated to open this fall, the building will facilitate collaboration between the departments of pediatrics, neurology, radiology, neurosurgery, psychiatry, anesthesiology and obstetrics/gynecology, under one roof. It will also have a dedicated child, teen and family center so patients of all ages feel more comfortable when receiving care.
The Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building, is named in honor of Mr. Pritzker's sister Nancy, who died by suicide during a depressive episode in 1972. Through its name and other programs within its walls, the Pritzkers hope the building will serve to destigmatize mental health issues and advance better treatment.
"It is rare in academic psychiatry to be handed a ‘blank sheet of paper,’ able to work with our donors, architects, developers and our outstanding faculty and staff across multiple departments to envision what a state-of-the art facility for brain health research, outpatient care delivery and education should look like," Matthew State, MD, PhD, a UCSF professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, said in a news release.