The center brings the F1 and F2 units, labor and delivery, well-baby nursery, childbirth education program, lactation center, perinatal diagnostic center and obstetric clinics under the LPCH license, said David Stevenson, director of the Johnson Center and chief of the Division of Neonatology.

"The obstetrical and neonatology services are already highly interdependent and include many of the same families," noted Stevenson. "The center streamlines the process of care for both patients and physicians."

Physicians should notice various improvements in services and efficiency, but essentially the change, timed to coincide with activation of the merger of Stanford and UCSF's clinical operations, should be seamless for both referring and practicing physicians in the neonatal and obstetrics areas, Stevenson said.

Physicians who refer patients to services at the center, and doctors who practice in the neonatal and obstetric areas, will be provided with detailed information, if procedural changes occur, he said.

The Johnson Center was made possible by a gift of $5 million from Charles B. and Ann L. Johnson. In addition to combining pregnancy and newborn patient services offered by SHS and LPCH, the gift creates an endowed professorship. Maurice Druzin, chief of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, recently was named the Charles B. and Ann L. Johnson Professor and also co-director of the center.

The center's ties are with the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics' Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine ‹ which offers all obstetrical services to women from simple deliveries through the most medically complex pregnancies ‹ and the Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine, which provides care for more than 1,400 critically ill or recovering infants each year. The pediatric division's newborn nursery handles more than 4,000 births each year.

"By integrating the medical center's services into one unit, we are able to provide more efficient, patient friendly and cost-effective use of services, while enhancing current medical programs," said Druzin. "The new center enables us to streamline the administrative aspects of providing ongoing care to families, as well as to better coordinate research activities in both divisions."

Eugene A. Bauer, dean of the School of Medicine, said the center "optimizes the interaction between the two academic divisions and creates new opportunities for collaboration in patient care and academic research. This generous gift will enable us to become the premier provider of care for mothers and babies in Northern California."

The grant also funds research by postdoctoral fellows or faculty scholars, and provides continued support to the Mary L. Johnson Infant Development Center, established in 1992 with a gift from the Johnsons.

The Johnsons have been active supporters of services for children at Stanford, both financially and professionally. Ann Lutes Johnson, who received her MD from Stanford in 1976 and then served her psychiatry residency at Stanford from 1977 to 1980, takes an active role in the unit. Last year she co-authored a study of individualized care for premature infants with very low birth weights.

Charles Johnson is president and CEO of Franklin Resources Inc., a San Mateo-based investment firm.

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Fact File: MedNET
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