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31 it had humble beginnings. In 1959, it opened as one of the nation's smallest teaching hospi- tals. e hospital building, which cost approx- imately $13 million to build, had eight floors, 291 beds and a nursery. It was located on a former golf course. Today, UW Medical Center — which is Mag- net-recognized for nursing excellence — is well-known for cancer care. rough the Seat- tle Cancer Care Alliance, UW Medical Center is partnered with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Seattle Children's Hospi- tal. e hospital has received national recog- nition for its oncology prowess: U.S. News & World Report ranked UW Medical Center as the No. 5 cancer hospital in the nation in its most recent rankings. UW Medical Center is also known for trans- plant medicine, as surgeons at the hospital per- form most of the multi-organ procurements in Washington, Alaska, Montana and northern Idaho in conjunction with LifeCenter North- west. In fall 2015, UW Medicine became one of seven sites in the nation to conduct a clinical trial of the Organ Care System, which keeps organs warm and beating during transport, lengthening the window of time caregivers have to transport and transplant a heart. UPMC Presbyterian (Pittsburgh). UPMC Presbyterian was founded in 1893. Today it is an academic medical center offering ex- pertise in a variety of specialties and earning recognition for many of them. In fact, U.S. News & World Report ranked UPMC Presby- terian-Shadyside among the top 50 hospitals in the U.S. for 13 adult specialties, and UPMC was ranked the No. 13 hospital in the nation overall in U.S. News' 2015-16 rankings. e UPMC system boasts ties to several leg- endary healthcare figures, including Jonas Salk, MD, who created the polio vaccine; omas Starzl, MD, PhD, a transplant pioneer and Peter Safar, MD, a pioneer of cardiopul- monary resuscitation. e hospital and its clinicians are still work- ing to further several medical specialties and treatments. Among its specialties, UPMC Pres- byterian is renowned for cardiology. In 1985, surgeons at UPMC Presbyterian implanted the country's second Jarvik Artificial Heart, and in 1990, UPMC became the first medical center to discharge a patient on a ventricular assist de- vice. Today, UPMC Presbyterian is the No. 30 hospital in the nation for cardiology and heart surgery, according to U.S. News & World Report. UR Medicine Strong Memorial Hospital (Rochester, N.Y.). e 800-bed Strong Me- morial Hospital serves as the anchor of Uni- versity of Rochester Medical Center, which also includes Highland Hospital, Golisano Children's Hospital, the James P. Wilmot Can- cer Center and the university's school of med- icine, school of nursing and dental school. Strong Memorial Hospital, which occupies 1.6 million square feet, opened as a 250-bed community hospital in 1925. Strong Memorial Hospital and URMC have a track record for both research and innovation. URMC was one of the first 12 institutions in the U.S. to receive a $40 million Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health, which funds URMC's Uni- versity of Rochester Clinical and Translational Science Institute. e CTSI has achieved sever- al things since it was created in 2006, including the establishment of a research navigator pro- gram to enhance collaboration in clinical and translational research within URMC. In the last 15 years, more than 24 companies have been formed with technologies created at URMC. Strong Memorial Hospital is Magnet-recog- nized for nursing excellence and is the No. 1 hospital in the Rochester metro area, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2015-16 rankings. UW Health–University Hospital (Madison). is 505-bed Magnet-recognized regional re- ferral center, part of UW Health, boasts a Level I adult and pediatric trauma center, one of the nation's first certified comprehensive stroke cen- ters and the UW Carbone Cancer Center, which is a National Cancer Institute-designated com- prehensive cancer center. Its history dates back to 1924, when Wisconsin General Hospital was established by the Wisconsin Legislature. roughout its history, University Hospital has earned several recognitions of excellence. For four years in a row, including 2015-16, U.S. News & World Report ranked it as the No. 1 hospital in the state. e hospital was also ranked nationally in 10 adult specialties. e Leapfrog Group assigned University Hospital an "A" grade for patient safety in fall 2015. Uni- versity Hospital also excels at cardiac care, as evidenced by it being named one of the 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals by Truven Health Analytics in 2015. With a 50-year history, the UW Health Trans- plant program is one of the most active in the nation. From 1998 through May 5, 2015, the team at UW Health completed 11,278 of the nation's 500,000 organ transplants. e team is particularly prolific when it comes to kidney and liver transplants, as they represent 56 per- cent and 18 percent of the system's total trans- plants, respectively. Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Nash- ville, Tenn.). A part of Vanderbilt Health, VUMC has 834 licensed beds between Vander- bilt University Hospital, Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital and Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilita- tion Hospital. According to U.S. News & World Report's 2015-16 rankings, VUMC is the No. 1 hospital in the Nashville metro area and in Tennessee overall. Vanderbilt University Hospital is a Magnet facility, recognized for excellence in nursing. Additionally, it is ranked in the top 50 nation- ally in eight specialties by U.S. News, including urology (No. 7), nephrology (No. 8), ear, nose and throat (No. 16), pulmonology (No. 16), and neurology and neurosurgery (No. 31). Vanderbilt Clinical Neurosciences is poised to celebrate two milestones this year: the 20th anniversary of its deep brain stimulation pro- gram and the program's 1,000th DBS procedure. "Vanderbilt has been implanting as long as any- one in the world, outside of the original center in France. We have probably the largest number of patients that have come through. I don't know of any other center that is anywhere near 1,000 patients," said Peter Konrad, MD, PhD, profes- sor of neurological surgery. In fact, the proce- dure is considered "routine" at UVMC because of the experience of the team, which consists of two neurosurgeons and nine neurologists. e future of DBS is bright, according to Vanderbilt, because the Food and Drug Administration re- cently approved the procedure for people in the early stages of Parkinson's disease. Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center (Richmond, Va.). VCU Medical Cen- ter is part of VCU Health, which comprises the university's five health sciences schools, Community Memorial Hospital of Richmond at VCU, VCU Massey Cancer Center and Vir- ginia Premier, a health plan. e medical cen- ter has 1,125 beds, is a regional referral center and the region's only Level I trauma center for adults and children. It is also one of the nation's designated Ebola centers. Not only is VCU Medical Center Magnet-rec- ognized for nursing excellence (earning its third designation in January), it was also the owner of the most Beacon award-win- ning units in the nation in 2014, with a total of eight. e Beacon Award for Excellence is bestowed by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses on units that successful- ly achieve superior patient outcomes and meet AACN's healthy work environment standards. Additionally, VCU Medical Center is the No. 1 hospital in Virginia and is nationally ranked in cardiology and heart surgery (No. 49), ne- phrology (No. 48), and orthopedics (No. 34), per U.S. News & World Report's 2015-16 rank- ings. Both Virginia Commonwealth University and VCU Health are committed to advancing the field of patient safety. In November 2015, the two or- ganizations appointed the first endowed professor for safety, quality and service in resident educa- tion — Gene Peterson, MD, PhD, who also serves as the system's chief safety and quality officer. e