Newswise — LOS ANGELES (Sept. 8, 2014) –The new home of the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center opens Monday and consolidates the clinical and administrative services for liver, kidney, lung and pancreas transplant patients. The four programs were previously housed at several locations on the 24-acre medical center campus, but now transplant patients can have nearly all of their medical needs addressed at one location.

The three-story facility covers 36,500 square feet and is located at 8900 Beverly Blvd., two blocks from the main medical center campus. The new center has 22 exam rooms, infusion therapy and phlebotomy services, patient education space and an outpatient procedure room. Two floors of underground parking and valet parking service are available to patients and their families.

“Improving the quality of life for patients who have received an organ transplant, or are waiting for one, was the organizing principle for the design of the new Comprehensive Transplant Center,” said Andrew S. Klein MD, MBA, director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center and the Esther and Mark Schulman Chair in Surgery and Transplantation Medicine. “We are always seeking new ways to address the wide variety of transplant patient needs and to provide the most comprehensive and clinically effective treatments available.”

Supporting the life-saving work of the center’s staff was also a priority. “This new facility addresses the needs of our patients, as well as those of our expert transplant staff. The state-of-the-art workrooms have been designed to encourage and facilitate team-building, the sharing of research and critical consultations that allow Cedars-Sinai to offer the best care possible to each patient,” said Shlomo Melmed, MD, senior vice president and dean of the medical faculty at Cedars-Sinai and the Helene A. and Philip E. Hixon Chair in Investigative Medicine.

Cedars-Sinai partnered with a design team from SmithGroupJJR to create an efficient, patient-centered environment. Soothing color palettes differentiate the various treatment spaces, and nature-themed murals adorn many of the walls.

"The building was originally configured as a residential and retail space, so it features numerous design elements that will enhance the patient experience, such as an open floor plan and large windows that allow natural light to come in," said Zeke Triana, Cedars-Sinai’s director of Facilities Planning, Design and Construction, and a member of the American Institute of Architects. “It is not only a beautiful building, but its design will help our physicians, nurses and support staff deliver the highest quality of care.”

Physicians and staff at the new transplant center will continue to offer the most effective treatment plan for each patient. Cedars-Sinai’s clinical programs produce high one-year-survival rates for even the sickest of transplant patients, according to the latest report by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients.

Photos by Art Gray Photography, courtesy of SmithGroupJJR.

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