Over 100 years have passed since the creation of good systematic health care for the early Chinese community. Despite massive discrimination and anti-Chinese laws, the Chinese community was able to build the first Chinese Hospital in 1911.
Against all odds, it has survived, thrived and blossomed into three buildings with a fourth Chinese Hospital in the works.
Currently undergoing a capital campaign, this is one hospital that serves the Chinatown community well and it is soundly supported by the community.
In 2006, the City of San Francisco’s population rose to nearly 40% Asian. The residents have far exceeded its original boundaries, with many residents settling in the outskirts of town and even settling in the suburbs of the greater San Francisco Bay Area.
UCSF is combining Chinese Hospital’s vision of serving the Chinese community with bilingual outreach to Chinese and Asian Americans. With figures indicating that the number one killer of Asian Americans are heart attacks and the number three killer was strokes, the first-ever Asian Heart and Vascular Center was created as a part of the world-renown University of California, San Francisco Medical Center.
AHVC was founded in an effort to bridge the cultural and language gap that often prevented Asian patients from receiving the best possible cardiovascular care that they need.

AHVC Director Dr. Gordon Fung, MD, MPH, said there is a myth that Asians are at low risk for heart and vascular disease, but that is definitely not true.
“Heart attacks and strokes are the leading causes of death of Asian Americans,” said Fung. “But many Asian don’t seek care or they seek care late, either because they don’t understand their risks or because they have trouble communicating with their doctors regarding their symptoms.”
While Asian-Americans share risk factors with the general population, such as high rates of hypertension, obesity, diabetes and smoking, studies have shown there are important differences in cardiovascular risk factors in Asian Americans.
The AHVC program includes Asian-focused clinical research, treatments, medical students training, and community education. In time, other medical disciplines such as cancer, diabetes, and orthopedics to name a few and will be included in the UCSF Asian-focused medical center.
What a bonanza of a dream, to know that the finest of research and the most advanced medical care and technology will be available to the entire Asian community in the greater Bay Area at the world-renowned UCSF Medical Center. That is something to be valued, as our quality of life can only become better and better. We applaud the UCSF Medical Center for bringing us forward.
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