ear Hall of Health Members, Donors, Visitors, and Friends,
The Hall of Health, the hands-on health museum sponsored by Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland, closed on July 18, 2009, after serving its San Francisco East Bay community for 35 years. During the museum’s existence, more than 350,000 adults and children came to use the interactive exhibits and learn about the workings of the human body, the value of sound diet and exercise, and the destructive effects of smoking and drug abuse.
Loss of grant funding made closure necessary. Our exhibits are now on loan to the following museums:
Challenger Learning Center, Atwater, California: Ability to Govern, Draw Your Own Insides, Drugs & Your Nervous System, Interference, This Is Your Heart, Your Cellular Self & Cancer Wisdom, Your Genes & Your Choices (permanent version)
Explorit Science Center, Davis, California: Lung Exhibit, Pattern Talk, Your Father’s Nose
Global Health Odyssey, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia: Your Genes & Your Choices (traveling version)
Habitot Children’s Museum, Berkeley, California: Body Building, Charlotte Emery’s Healthy Pizza Kitchen
Science Central, Fort Wayne, Indiana: AIDS Exhibit, Antique Display, Birth Exhibit, Blood Exhibit, Hearing Exhibit, Tobacco & Your Health, Safety First!, Tooth Exhibit, Vision Exhibit
ScienceWorks Hands On Museum, Ashland, Oregon: Health & Your Environment, Leg Bone Puzzle
From 2004 through 2009, the Hall of Health collaborated with Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) on Health and Biomedical Science for a Diverse Community, a SEPA (Science Education Partnership Award) project funded by the National Institutes of Health. The project included teacher workshops, family science festivals, development of two Your Genes & Your Choices exhibits, and development of a novel fourth and fifth grade curriculum in health and biomedical science. In 2007 this project won a Richard B. Rush Award for outstanding innovation by a health education center. Kits containing materials for the 40-lesson curriculum have gone to the Oakland Unified School District, California, and the FACES for the Future high school internship program at Children’s Hospital Oakland.
The Hall of Health’s Kids on the Block puppets, which promote acceptance and understanding of physical, mental, medical, and cultural differences, have also gone to the FACES program.
Many people deserve thanks for their support of the Hall of Health. These include Children’s Hospital administrators Bertram Lubin, MD, president and CEO; Mary Dean, former senior vice president and chief strategic officer; Brad Barber, senior vice president, Foundation, and chief development officer; Peggy Baxter, former director of external affairs; and Tony Paap, former president and CEO. They also include the members of our Advisory Committee: Charles Carlson, Marion Fredman, Rita Gaber, Charles Howarth, Caroline Kane, PhD., Do Kim, Janet King, PhD, Leslie Louie, PhD, Alexander Lucas, PhD, Tomás Magaña, MD, Leticia Marquez-Magaña, PhD, Gina Moreland, Laurie Schumacher, PhD, Barbara Stebbins, PhD, Kimberly Turner, Gordon Watson, PhD, and Marlene Wilson.
Of course, none of our programs would have been possible without the Hall of Health staff: Laura McVittie Gray, Ava Holliday, Bebe Jackson, the late Paul Rosin, Leon Spanier, Chayo Ureño, and Diane Vecchi. Paul, who served for many years as Hall of Health assistant and head docent, will be long-remembered for his enthusiasm, dedication, teaching skill, and ability to organize everything. The work of our many wonderful interns and volunteers was also essential.
Through the years, the Hall of Health was the fortunate recipient of many grants and donations from government agencies, private foundations, companies, organizations, and individuals. A special thanks goes to Children’s Hospital Branches, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center Associates, and the Hall of Health’s Platinum and Gold Members: Maggie Boylan, PhD, BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc., Men’s Wearhouse, Novartis, and Sybase.
I wish I could thank each of our members, donors, visitors, and friends personally for helping to make the Hall of Health a success for so long. Please know that your support is deeply appreciated, that you did something important for the community, and that you made the 17 years I served as director of the Hall of Health very happy ones.
If there are any future changes in the status of the Hall of Health, information will be posted on this website.