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  An affiliate of the Minnesota Medical Foundation

What We Support

UPF raises millions of dollars annually for health-related education and research at the University of Minnesota.

An affiliate of the Minnesota Medical Foundation, the University Pediatrics Foundation supports research, education, and clinical services at the University of Minnesota that enhance children's health, well-being, and quality of life. The primary recipients of that support are the University's Department of Pediatrics and University of Minnesota Children's Hospital, Fairview.

For nearly a century, the Department of Pediatrics has pioneered new treatments and cures for diseases and other complex conditions that affect children throughout the world. Its world firsts include the first open-heart surgery, kidney biopsy, bone marrow transplant, and cochlear implant surgery in a child. An international leader in research that helps children, the department ranks 14th—at nearly $17 million—among pediatrics departments nationally in grant support from the National Institutes of Health.

University of Minnesota Children's Hospital, Fairview, offers compassionate, family-centered care in more than 40 specialty areas. It is among just 4 percent of hospitals in the nation selected as Magnet facilities because of their high-quality patient care, nursing excellence, and innovations in professional nursing practice.

The close integration between the department and hospital—the department chair is pediatrician in chief of the hospital—means our community has access to the latest and best pediatric research: new medical knowledge that can be quickly translated into exceptional care for children. For example, research conducted by University faculty has helped increase the survival rate for victims of pediatric cancer from 10 percent in 1959 to 85 percent today. The University has also pioneered in treatment for other illnesses affecting children, such as kidney disease and cystic fibrosis. As a result, pediatric patients from around the world are referred to the University of Minnesota Children's Hospital for treatment.

This partnership will get an important boost with the opening in 2010 of a brand-new, state-of-the-art, 185,000-square-foot facility that will bring together services for mothers and children in a single, child- and family-centered environment. The project will be paid for through a combination of bonding by Fairview Health Services, philanthropy, and other sources.