PCH Partnership
PCH Partnership
A CENTURY OF PARTNERSHIP: ADVANCING PEDIATRIC CARE TOGETHER
The longstanding partnership between the University of Utah Department of Pediatrics and Intermountain Children’s Health - Primary Children’s Hospital represents a century of dedication to advancing pediatric health, research, education, and compassionate care across the Intermountain West. Together, these institutions have created a powerful alliance centered on a shared mission: to put “The Child First and Always.”
HISTORY
The partnership with the University of Utah School of Medicine, formally established in 1977, transformed Primary Children’s into a premier pediatric teaching hospital. Today, the collaboration is deeply integrated across all levels of care, education, research, and operations. The University of Utah Department of Pediatrics, based on the University’s health sciences campus adjacent to Primary Children’s Hospital, provides faculty physicians, researchers, educators, and trainees who work in tandem with Intermountain clinicians to deliver world-class pediatric care.
Founded in 1922, Primary Children’s Hospital began as a 35-bed facility in a converted Salt Lake City home. Over the decades, it has grown into one of the nation’s top-ranked children’s hospitals, now caring for more than one million children across a 400,000-square-mile service area. The hospital, part of Intermountain Health, is a Level I pediatric trauma center with 289 beds in Salt Lake City and an additional 66-bed facility that opened in Lehi in 2024. It provides comprehensive services for children facing everything from routine care to complex surgical procedures, organ transplants, and rare diseases.
HOW THE PARTNERSHIP WORKS TODAY
This partnership continues to be driven by a shared belief in improving children's lives through integrated, forward-thinking care. Underpinned by community support, interfaith collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to families, the University of Utah and Primary Children’s Hospital remain steadfast in their joint mission to help children heal, thrive, and reach their full potential.
As we look ahead to the next 100 years, our focus remains clear: to advance pediatric health through excellence in care, innovation in research, and the education of tomorrow’s pediatric leaders — always with the child at the center.