The first UC teaching hospital on the Parnassus campus was founded in the wake of the 1906 earthquake and fire. The basic science departments were moved to Berkeley, and the vacated space in the Medical School building was converted into a teaching hospital. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, a disparate group of affiliated colleges and a training school for nurses united geographically at Parnassus, and became mutually involved in delivery of patient care to the San Francisco and California public.

Today, UCSF occupies seven major sites in San Francisco and Fresno with 28 academic departments, 9 organized research unites and 7 interdisciplinary research centers.  There are over 1900 full time faculty members and over 2000 volunteer faculty members who work within the UCSF system.