[1] It operates inland Northern California's only level I trauma center for both adult and pediatric emergencies and maintains a staff of specialists and researchers in more than 150 areas of health care.

The history of UC Davis Medical Center dates to May 3, 1850, when Sacramento City Council recommended that a hospital be built.

In 1871, the hospital was moved to a 22-acre (8.9 ha) parcel of land on Stockton Boulevard in Sacramento, California (the present location of UC Davis Medical Center).

That same year, UC Regents purchased 32 acres (13 ha) of vacant land east of 45th Street, formerly used by the California State Fairgrounds.

[6] UC Davis functions as California's only level I trauma center north of San Francisco and is historically among the nation's busiest.

As part of their collaboration, UC Davis Medical Center cares for adult burn patients and Shriners for children.

In 2005 the Firefighters Burn Institute donated $1 million to help build a new, larger center that will consolidate services in a single location.

The center offers patients access to more than 150 clinical trials at any given time through a research program that includes more than 280 scientists.

UC Davis vascular surgeons have hosted live-case demonstrations for thousands of colleagues at national and international conferences.

[20] The UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures includes Northern California's largest academic Good Manufacturing Practice laboratory, a federally certified facility that allows researchers to conduct clinical trials with patients.

[25] On Christmas morning 2008, a UC Davis Health specialist helped save the life of a boy in a Colusa hospital using telehealth technology from his own living room, 75 miles (121 km) away.

[26] In October 2019, the UC Davis FamilyLink program expanded to include all 49 beds in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

The program allows authorized family members to virtually visit with their hospitalized baby 24/7 through a secure webcam connection when they are not physically able to be at the bedside.

This helped decrease exposure to the virus and provided patients with a valuable connection to their family members, who were unable to visit them due to COVID-19 restrictions.

[29] The health system also helped build a 52,000-square-foot (4,800 m2) California Telehealth Resource Center to act as a hub for education, training, and clinical care through technology-enabled consultation rooms.

The pavilion meets a combined need to comply with state seismic safety standards and to add more space and beds for programs currently in undersized, inadequate facilities.

[30] In 2012, it was revealed that two doctors had performed untested medical treatments, amounting to "serious and continuing noncompliance" with federal regulations.

[31] Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services investigators released a report criticizing the hospital for its failures.