The Level I Trauma Center was established at The Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG) in 1968. lt is the only Trauma Center in the City and County of San Francisco with nearly 4,000 trauma activations per year. In addition, the Trauma Center is the provider of trauma care for the northern portion of San Mateo County and thus has a service area of 1.5 million people.
The center is staffed by outstanding faculty from the University of California at San Francisco who conduct research to improve patient outcomes through surgical techniques, care modalities, and injury prevention. Unique programs include the Traumatic Brain Injury Program and the Orthopaedic Trauma Center.
The San Francisco Injury Center is located at ZSFG.
Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center is a licensed general acute care hospital which is owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco, Department of Public Health, licensed by the State of California, and accredited by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Organizations (JCAHO). The hospital provides a full complement of inpatient, outpatient, emergency, diagnostic and psychiatric services for adults and children 24 hours a day.
In December 2025, the California Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems and the California Health Care Safety Net Institute presented the 2025 Innovation Award to the San Francisco Health Network and the Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG) for their project, Sustaining Change at the Front Door: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Emergency Department Triage Design.
The award recognizes an extraordinary three-year effort that has dramatically reduced the emergency department's (ED's) left without being seen (LWBS) rate – the percentage of patients who leave the ED before a doctor or advanced practice provider sees them – to levels below the national benchmark, reduced care disparities, and pioneered new ways to engage staff and patients in improving care.
