When founded in 1971, the hospital was part of the University of Arizona. In the 1980s, it became a separate entity but, in 2010, was reintegrated into the University of Arizona under the name UA Health Network. The 2011 name change to the University of Arizona Medical Center reflected the need to combine all University of Arizona affiliated medical services: University Medical Center, University Physicians Healthcare, and the College of Medicine. In 2015, Banner Health based in Phoenix, Arizona, merged with UAHN and began a 30-year affiliation with the University of Arizona in which the facility was renamed to its present designation.
Campus
As part of the merger between UAHN and Banner Health, the latter committed $500 million towards the construction of a new hospital and nearby outpatient clinic building. Designed by Shepley Bulfinch and built as a joint venture between Sundt and DPR Construction, groundbreaking occurred in early 2016. The new $306 million, nine-story hospital tower will contain over 200 new patient rooms and 19 new operating rooms. The tower was topped out February 2017 is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2019. When finished, it will be the 5thtallest building in Tucson.
Notable events
On January 8, 2011 Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in an assassination attempt. Having been critically wounded after suffering a single gunshot wound to the head, she and many of the other 18 wounded individuals were promptly evacuated by helicopter to this facility. Giffords underwent emergency surgery to save her life and many attribute her survival to the swift actions of the university's doctors. After her condition improved, doctors deemed her safe to travel so that she could begin speech, physical, and occupational therapy. Giffords was flown by plane to Houston's Memorial Hermann Medical Center on January 21, 2011 to continue therapy. In total, 6 people died in the shooting, including federal District Court Chief Judge John Roll; Gabe Zimmerman, one of Rep. Giffords' staffers; and a nine-year-old girl, Christina-Taylor Green.
Through the University of Arizona College of Medicine, BUMCT hosts nearly 50 residency and fellowship programs across almost every speciality in medicine. Over 600 residents and fellows train at BUMCT and Banner - University Medical Center South and all physicians who practice at these facilities have University of Arizona faculty appointments.
Adjacent and interrelated to BUMCT is the , an NCI cancer research and treatment facility. The medical center serves as the site of the programs' numerous clinical trials. Besides the hospital, Banner Health, via its University Medicine division, operates two hospital-based physician offices in Tucson, one hospital-based physician office in Green Valley, Arizona, and one medical transplant physician office in Phoenix.
