Medical Breakthroughs

Medical Breakthroughs and Scientific Advances Through the Years at UCLA

Leading the way and creating world leaders

The mission of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA is to improve health and healthcare by creating world leaders in health and science.

The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA is one of the premier research and educational institutions in the nation. Our dedicated faculty is committed to providing excellence in teaching our trainees who are pursuing their careers in medicine and in the biomedical sciences. Our research scientists regularly make important new advances and medical breakthroughs that improves healthcare across the world.

Investments of all sizes empower transformations through innovation.

Support Science
Blue and white icon representing a CT scan

1961 - 1963

The CT Scan
William Oldendorf establishes the bedrock of computerized tomography.

Blue and white icon representing tissue matching

1964

Tissue matching
Paul Terasaki develops a tissue test that transforms organ transplantation.

Blue and white icon representing a PET center

1978

Molecular imaging
Michael Phelps and Edward Hoffman create UCLA’s first clinical PET center.

Blue and white icon representing AIDS research

1981

AIDS Research
UCLA physicians report and describe the first cases of AIDS.

Blue and white icon representing a leukemia drug treatment

1983

Landmark leukemia drug
Owen Witte pinpoints a genetic target crucial to the development of life-saving drugs.

Blue and white icon representing a DNA strand

1988

Genetic basis of disease
Michael Grunstein demonstrates that histones influence gene expression and disease development.

Blue and white icon representing a detachable coil

1990

Brain aneurysm treatment
Guido Guglielmi invents detachable coils that stop deadly bleeding from brain aneurysms.

Blue and white icon representing the DNA of an apple

1994

Metabolic genetic origin
Elizabeth Neufeld receives the National Medal of Science for research critical to treating metabolic disorders.

Blue and white icon representing a target

1998

Precision cancer treatment
Dennis Slamon characterizes an oncogene, the target for a breakthrough breast-cancer therapy.

Blue and white icon representing molecular signaling

1998

Molecular signaling
Lou Ignarro receives the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for demonstrating the signaling properties of nitric oxide.

Blue and white icon representing prescription drugs

2004 - 2010

Prostate cancer treatment
Charles Sawyer and Michael Jung develop a drug to fight castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Blue and white icon representing the brain

2005

Alzheimer’s research
David Eisenberg’s model of amyloid fibers opens new avenues for treating neurodegenerative diseases.

Blue and white icon representing bubble baby syndrome

2015

Successful gene therapy
Donald Kohn cured “bubble baby” disease using gene therapy.