A leadership change is underway at UCI’s academic health enterprise.
Dr. Steve Goldstein, vice chancellor of health affairs, is departing to lead the University of New Mexico, effective July 15.
Stepping into the role on an interim basis is Dr. Michael Stamos, dean of the UCI School of Medicine. He will continue to serve as dean while the university conducts a national search.
“I think the opportunity to build on the foundation that’s been established by Steve Goldstein, in particular, but also the previous vice chancellors is exciting,” Stamos told the Business Journal.
Goldstein is leaving after seven years, during which he oversaw a major expansion of the university throughout Orange County, including the $1.3 billion construction of a new medical complex in Irvine and the acquisition of four community hospitals from Tenet Healthcare.
“Serving as vice chancellor for health affairs at UC Irvine has been one of the great privileges of my career,” Goldstein told the Business Journal.
“I am immensely proud of the faculty, staff, students, and community partners who have helped build an academic health enterprise worthy of Orange County’s ambition, diversity, and dynamism. Together, we advanced the Susan & Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences by uniting medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and population health; expanded research; and extended the reach of UCI Health.”
Oversaw $5.5B Enterprise
During his seven-year tenure, Goldstein oversaw the $5.5 billion enterprise comprising the Susan & Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences and UCI Health.
He’s credited with helping achieve 206% annual revenue growth for the combined entities, as well as a 70% increase in grant funding and more than $1 billion in philanthropy.
The College of Health Sciences has expanded in recent years through the launch of two new schools.
In 2020, the School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences opened, marking the state’s first public pharmacy school in nearly two decades, followed by the Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health in 2024 named after a $50 million gift from Joe Wen, founder of multinational conglomerate Formosa Ltd.
Goldstein’s time as vice chancellor also saw the completion of major construction projects, such as UCI Health’s $1.3 billion medical complex along Jamboree Road and Campus Drive in Irvine. UCI capped off the 13.5-acre complex with a 144-bed all-electric hospital that opened last December.
First announced in 2021, the complex is part of a healthcare construction boom that includes three hospitals in Irvine alone.
Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, the second-largest hospital in OC, is in the midst of a major $1.2 billion expansion in Irvine, set to fully open in September. City of Hope Orange County is also spending $1.5 billion to increase local cancer care.
Another UCI building completed last year is the Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building. The 215,000 square-foot facility, funded by more than $50 million from Adeline and Robert Mah, houses 13 programs to pursue breakthroughs in fields including cancer, immunology and neurological disorders.
In 2024, another major milestone occurred when UCI Health paid Tenet $975 million to acquire its hospitals in Fountain Valley, Lakewood, Los Alamitos and Placentia-Linda. The deal added 858 inpatient beds.
“Dr. Goldstein is an incredibly accomplished physician and scientist, and a proven academic leader who has served at the highest echelons of university administration,” Chancellor Howard Gillman said in a statement.
“His wise counsel, innovative planning and steady hand have made a profound impact at UC Irvine and enabled the Anteater community to reach new heights in health sciences teaching, research and public service.”
Founder of Colon, Rectal Surgery Division
Stamos, an internationally recognized colorectal surgeon, was an associate professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA for a decade before joining the UCI School of Medicine in 2002.
“I came to UCI because of a vision and dream of building what is now the Digestive Health Institute, where we brought together various experts in the GI world for the sake of improving patient care,” Stamos said.
He founded the division of colon and rectal surgery, which was the first to perform robotic surgery for rectal cancer in OC and the first to complete minimally invasive colectomy.
In 2010, Stamos became the chair of the Department of Surgery before being named dean of the School of Medicine in 2016.
Stamos said that he’s witnessed an “evolution of growth” during his 24 years at UCI.
“Back in the early days, we were still living within the shell of the county hospital that we acquired from the county back in the 1970s, so the building of the Douglas Hospital was transformational to us,” he said.
The UC Regents in 1976 purchased the Orange County Medical Center for $5.5 million in 1976, renaming it UCI Medical Center. In 2009, UCI opened the seven-story UC Irvine Douglas Hospital at the medical center, named in honor of a $21 million gift from M.A. Douglas.
“We had a real patient care need that wasn’t being fully met because of physical capacity and that was really instrumental in moving us forward,” Stamos said.
‘R&D Engine of OC’
Under Stamos, the School of Medicine is ranked as one of the top 50 U.S. medical schools for research by U.S. News & World Report.
Stamos said that they’re now up to 125 students per year with plans to increase to 150 over the next three to five years.
“UCI is the R&D engine of Orange County biomedical enterprise, so I think it’s important to recognize we don’t just produce medical students—we also have a larger number of PhD students and master’s students every year,” he said.
In the past five years, the school has seen a 40% increase in research funding and 52% increase in clinical trial awards “in spite of what’s happening at the NIH” with funding disruptions, according to Stamos.
Recently, the school launched a joint master’s program with the Samueli School of Engineering to prepare “physician-engineers to translate engineering advances into medical solutions.”
Stamos said that about 30% of engineering students at UCI display interest in wanting to be physicians, so the program will “tap into that interest and expertise.”
The School of Medicine last year also launched its space medicine program, becoming the first school in the U.S. to do so. The four-year program aims to train future physicians for the emerging field of space medicine as commercial spaceflight becomes a reality.
“Given the space industry in Southern California, it makes a lot of sense that we would be among the leaders in this area,” Stamos said.
Stamos said that the school is pursuing industry partnerships and has spoken with Tustin-based space tourism company Virgin Galactic, which expects to resume commercial spaceflights toward the end of the year.
Rehab Hospital Opening This Month
Stamos said that he and Goldstein have worked “hand in hand” for the past seven years.
“Since I’ve known about Steve’s departure, we’ve been working even closer together to make sure that we don’t have any bumps in the transition,” Stamos said.
He’s initiated meetings with deans in the College of Health Sciences to understand what their needs are.
As interim vice chancellor, Stamos’s priorities include continuing interdisciplinary education.
“Nurses, physicians, pharmacists, and public health experts can be in the same environment, improving patient care, and then if you bring the trainees into that environment, they see that that’s real-world evidence,” Stamos said.
Upcoming events include the July 21 opening of the UCI Health Rehabilitation Hospital, a joint venture between UCI Health and Lifepoint Rehabilitation, first announced in 2022.
The 68,000-square-foot facility, located three miles from the UCI Health—Irvine medical complex, will serve patients receiving acute inpatient care for stroke, traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, amputation and other injuries and disorders.
With the opening, UCI Health is expanding from its 14-bed acute rehabilitation unit at UCI Medical Center in Orange to a 52-bed hospital with a brain injury unit, dialysis suite and imaging suite for onsite radiology.
“The county has a lot of pent-up demand,” Stamos said. “Our new hospital is not going to solve all that demand, but it’s going to be a big expansion.”
