Whether it's providing rural and remote towns with high-tech video access to its medical specialists or being the home for a national project that is helping curb cancer among Asian Americans, UC Davis Health System has always made community service a top priority.

UC Davis' emphasis on local engagement received national recognition this month when the American Association of Medical Colleges honored the university's health system with its annual Outstanding Community Service Award.

The award recognizes exceptional community service programs that go beyond the typical role of academic medicine to reach communities whose needs are not met by traditional health-care delivery systems. AAMC members, which include the 142 accredited medical schools and organizations in the U.S. and Canada, compete annually for the designation. UC Davis shares the award this year with the Medical College of Wisconsin.

'Engagement is integral'

Virginia Hinshaw, provost and executive vice chancellor, said, "Since its founding more than 30 years ago, UC Davis Health System has focused on meeting the primary and specialty care needs of residents within the geographically vast and culturally diverse Northern California region."

UC Davis was honored for its variety of programs such as the Center for Health and Technology; the university's partnership with St. HOPE Public Schools; the Communities and Physicians Together program; the Student-Run Health Clinics; the Asian-American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training program; and the Staff Offering Services program.

"Community engagement is integral to everything we do," said Claire Pomeroy, vice chancellor for Human Health Sciences and dean of the School of Medicine. "Because we have such outstanding partnerships in the community, we are better able to accomplish our teaching, research and patient care missions."

Recognition of that type of community involvement also was noted by area leaders, including one state lawmaker who was born in the hospital that now is known as the UC Davis Medical Center.

"I literally grew up watching the evolution of UC Davis in my neighborhood," said California State Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento. "With its philosophy of partnering and giving, it truly has served as a catalyst to improve health, foster economic development, and broaden educational opportunities for Sacramento residents."

To view a multimedia story on community medicine, visit http://www.ucdavis.edu/spotlight/1105/reaching_out.html.