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This monthly community newsletter from Dr. Mitchell Rosner highlights how UVA Health serves our patients and the community. To stay up to date on operations, clinical services, and research efforts featured in UVA Health Community Update, subscribe to the monthly newsletter.

Dear Friends of UVA Health,

As we move into fall, I’m glad to share a few updates from across UVA Health — including how we’re planning for the space we need to better serve our patients, an important recognition for our nurses, and new research that could improve our understanding of women’s health.
 
Thank you, as always, for your interest in UVA Health and the work happening across our communities.

Mitchell H. Rosner, MD, MACP, FRCP
Chief Executive Officer, UVA Health
Executive Vice President for Health Affairs, UVA

Planning for UVA Health’s Future Space Needs

If you have received care at UVA Health University Medical Center in recent years, you have probably seen some of the challenges that come with our growth. More patients are turning to us for care, and in some areas, our physical space has not kept pace. We know that can mean longer waits for appointments, crowded facilities, or simply not having enough room to care for everyone as quickly as we would like.
 
We are working hard to change that. Over the past several months, we have been developing a 10-year Integrated Space Plan in conjunction with leaders at UVA to better understand where we need more capacity and how we should invest in the spaces that serve our patients. That includes everything from hospital beds and outpatient clinics to emergency care, procedure rooms, and diagnostic imaging. Our space plan also considers the infrastructure that supports patient care behind the scenes, from laboratories and sterile processing to supply chain, food services, and parking.
 
Several near-term priorities include work already underway to build out the three shelled patient care floors within University Medical Center’s South Tower. We are also working to repurpose the Transitional Care Hospital on Ivy Road into a space for Behavioral Health Services. This would provide inpatient capacity relief at University Medical Center as well as address the growing need for specialized mental health services in our region. Over the last several years, we have seen an increasing number of patients seeking comprehensive psychiatric services. 
 
There is still work ahead as we refine the plan and determine the timing and costs of these investments. But the goal is straightforward: to make sure our physical spaces can support the care our patients and communities need, both today and as UVA Health continues to grow.

UVA Health Volunteers Give Back During Day of Caring

More than 500 UVA Health colleagues rolled up their sleeves Sept. 16 to participate in the United Way of Greater Charlottesville’ annual Day of Caring.
 
Across more than 55 UVA Health teams, 509 volunteers worked on projects supporting schools, food banks, community centers, camps, nonprofits, and other organizations throughout the region. Projects ranged from preparing hundreds of new books for an elementary school library and supporting the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank to landscaping, painting, and helping prepare an all-inclusive prom for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. UVA Health volunteers were among 2,300 community members who participated in a total of 133 projects across the region this year.
 
Day of Caring is one of the many ways the individuals and teams at UVA Health contribute to the communities we serve, and I am grateful to everyone who gave their time and talents this year.

View more photos.

Prince William Medical Center Earns Magnet® Recognition

UVA Health Prince William Medical Center has once again earned Magnet® recognition, the nation’s highest honor for nursing excellence.
 
But what does Magnet® recognition mean for patients? Awarded by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, Magnet® recognizes hospitals that meet rigorous standards for nursing practice and patient care. The designation looks at areas including quality, safety, collaboration, professional development, and innovation. With the survey taking place every five years, Prince William Medical Center first earned Magnet® recognition in 2016 and was redesignated in 2021.
 
UVA Health University Medical Center also holds Magnet® status and recently earned its redesignation in 2025. Having nurses at both hospitals recognized at this level is an important reflection of the expertise and commitment they bring to caring for our patients every day.

Learn more.

A New Home for UVA Health Pediatrics in Harrisonburg

UVA Health recently celebrated the opening of an expanded home for pediatric care in Harrisonburg, helping us better serve children and families throughout the Shenandoah Valley.
 
The new location brings together two previously separate practices — Pediatrics Harrisonburg and Pediatrics Harrisonburg McGaheysville — in a larger, newly renovated space. The move provides additional room to meet growing demand and expanded hours, while allowing patients to continue receiving care from the providers they know and trust.
 
With the announcement earlier this year of our new Pediatric and Specialty Care Riverside and Teen and Young Adult Care Riverside clinics, the newly expanded Harrisonburg pediatric location reinforces our commitment to ensuring our littlest patients receive the care they need.

Learn more.

Celebrating Our Advanced Practice Providers

This week, we're celebrating National Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Week and the 850 APPs who care for patients across UVA Health.
 
APPs include nurse practitioners, physician assistants/associates, certified nurse midwives, certified registered nurse anesthetists, clinical nurse specialists, and other highly trained health professionals. They work throughout our hospitals and clinics, providing specialized care, helping patients manage complex conditions, and working alongside physicians, nurses, and other members of the care team.
 
Their impact also extends beyond the bedside and exam room. Many of our APPs help educate the next generation of health professionals, contribute to research, and find new ways to improve how we care for patients. During APP Week, we’re grateful for the expertise and commitment they bring to our patients every day.

Research Highlight: Building Better Tools for Women’s Health

Jason Papin, PhD, a professor in UVA’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, is leading a multidisciplinary team of UVA researchers, with collaborators from Johns Hopkins University, University of Connecticut, University of Michigan, and University of Illinois Chicago.

Focus: UVA researchers have received the first $4 million of a National Institutes of Health award worth up to $12 million to develop a digital model that could help us better understand how hormones can influence the way medications work. The open-source digital model called MOSAIC will aim to help researchers study the complex interactions among hormones, different organ systems, and gut bacteria.

What Happens Next: Using artificial intelligence-assisted tools and large sets of biological data, the researchers plan to model how male and female bodies can process medications differently. They will initially test the model using two conditions that uniquely or disproportionately affect women: bacterial vaginosis and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, a form of chronic liver disease.

Why It Matters: Researchers hope MOSAIC will eventually help predict how well a medication may work for an individual patient and identify potential side effects. Better understanding these differences could also help scientists develop more targeted treatments and address longstanding gaps in women’s health research. The work also supports UVA’s broader efforts to accelerate discoveries into new treatments that benefit patients, including at the new Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology.

Read more.