Scripps Clinic Areas of Expertise

Scripps Clinic history begins in 1924 when Ellen Browning established Scripps Hospital and Scripps Metabolic Clinic on Prospect Street in La Jolla. Since its inception, Scripps Clinic has become a nationally recognized for its physician experts and clinical research in several specialties.

U.S. News & World Report consistently recognizes Scripps Health as having one of the top orthopedic programs in the country. This rating is based on quality, patient outcomes, technology, treatment offerings and our patient care facilities, including the Donald P. and Darlene V. Shiley Musculoskeletal Center at Scripps Clinic Torrey Pines in La Jolla. 

A top destination for orthopedic care, the center offers sports medicine, podiatry, spine surgery, hand and wrist surgery, total joint replacement and complex foot and ankle reconstruction. The Scripps Clinic Division of Orthopedics focuses on key pillars to support patient care and the advancement of medicine, including providing quality patient care, research and innovation, education, international outreach and philanthropy.

Scripps Clinic physician-scientists and orthopedists are also driving some of the world’s most advanced clinical studies through the Shiley Center for Orthopaedic Research and Education (SCORE). The orthopedic clinical trials at SCORE make it possible for patients to receive investigational therapies and devices to treat conditions affecting the musculoskeletal system. SCORE physicians and scientists study the effects of traumatic injuries and sports activities, as well as conduct research on artificial cartilage implants for treating joint injuries or degeneration.

With the eye toward the future, physician scientists and researchers at SCORE in Torrey Pines are on the leading edge in developing artificial cartilage, testing new devices and surgical techniques and conducting publicly and privately funded clinical research to support the highest possible orthopedic care. The division is also preparing the next generation of orthopedic surgeons through rich graduate medical education and fellowship training.

For more than a decade, Scripps Clinic cardiologists and heart surgeons have been recognized as a top-ranked cardiology program by U.S. News & World Report. A leader in the field of heart care, Scripps Clinic established one of the first comprehensive facilities for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular and pulmonary disease in 1984.

Today, more than 25 board-certified cardiology specialists practice at the Prebys Cardiovascular Institute — the largest, most advanced center on the West Coast for cardiovascular medicine, research and training. Nationally recognized Scripps Cardiologists include:

• Paul Teirstein, MD, world-renowned interventional cardiologist and pioneer of the first effective treatment for restenosis (low dose radiation therapy).
• Richard Schatz, MD, co-inventor of the Palmaz-Schatz stent the first successful coronary artery stent.
• Douglas Gibson, MD, one of the nation’s leading physicians for the atrial fibrillation and pioneer of several afib procedures.

Adjacent to the Prebys Cardiovascular Institute, is the six-story, 175,000-square-foot John R. Anderson V Medical Pavilion facility which offers a cardio stress laboratory and four cardiac catheterization labs — making it one of only two facilities in California that performs outpatient catheterization procedures.

Services available at the medical pavilion include:

• Cardiac echocardiogram and stress lab
• Four cardiac catheterization labs
• On-site laboratory
• Imaging services
• Vascular lab

Scripps Clinic has a long tradition of providing life-saving transplants. The organ and cell transplantation programs at Scripps Green Hospital offers kidney, pancreas, liver and blood stem cell transplants, as well as leading-edge clinical research. On average, Scripps Clinic surgeons performed more than 50 kidney transplants a year. The center also offers kidney paired donor exchanges to all qualified donors and recipients and made medical center made history in 2009 when it became the first San Diego hospital to perform a three-way, kidney paired donor exchange among six people.

Established in 1980, the Scripps Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) Program at Scripps Clinic provides specialized care to adults with blood diseases, immune deficiency diseases and certain cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma. Today, the program is well-recognized for its expertise and innovation, facilitating bone marrow and stem cell transplants for people across the country. The program is the primary collection source for the National Marrow Donor Program in Southern California and the Department of Defense, as well as the fourth largest collection site in the US and the sixth largest in the world.