The University's hospitals have a mandate from the Canton of Zurich not only to provide a wide range of services for the people of the canton, but also to offer medical care on a national level. This includes primary healthcare, support for research and teaching at universities, and promoting training and continuing education in the healthcare professions. The University’s hospitals create the link between the pure research that is carried out at the universities and the medical treatment that takes place at the hospitals. The medical excellence of the institutions allows them to make an important contribution to healthcare in Switzerland.

The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zurich is among the top 100 medical faculties worldwide and among the top 10 in Europe. It is the largest of the six medical faculties in Switzerland and has around 230 professors involved in medical research and teaching. The academics in the faculty carry out first-class pure and clinical research. They have extensive expertise in biomedical research in particular. The Faculty of Medicine has around 4,000 students and every year approximately 400 young physicians complete their studies in human, dental, and chiropractic medicine. More than 700 academic lecturers make their knowledge available to the medical students through teaching. 

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich has a long, comprehensive, and successful history in the wide-ranging field of medicine. The professors in nine different departments at ETH Zurich carry out research relating directly or indirectly to medical subjects. Their main activities include pure research, developing technologies for diagnostics and therapy, transferring these into clinical practice, and providing teaching, training, and continuing education. Since the fall of 2017, ETH Zurich has offered a Bachelor’s degree in Human Medicine. As well as conventional medical content, the new degree program also covers subjects from the fields of molecular biology and medical technology. However, even ETH cannot carry out cutting-edge medical research independently, which is why it is part of Academic Medicine Zurich.

University Hospital Zurich (USZ) is one of the largest hospitals in Switzerland. It is open to the general public on a daily basis and provides primary and specialist medical care at multiple locations in Zurich. Every year, it treats around 42,000 inpatients and handles well over 700,000 outpatient appointments at 43 clinics and institutes. In addition, University Hospital Zurich is regarded as a national and international center for education and training in the field of healthcare. USZ takes part in joint research projects with UMZH into the latest treatment methods and makes use of these therapies on the basis of strict scientific criteria. Patients with complex health problems and multiple conditions come to USZ from all over Switzerland and from other countries to receive treatments that, in many cases, are offered only by USZ.

Balgrist University Hospital is a highly specialized center of competence for the diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of patients with musculoskeletal and orthopedic conditions. Future medical specialists in the disciplines of orthopedics, paraplegiology, rheumatology and physical medicine, sports medicine, neuro-urology, chiropractic, radiology, and anesthesiology are trained here on behalf of the University of Zurich. Balgrist University Hospital focuses primarily on musculoskeletal medicine. The staff there constantly call into question existing knowledge and carry out pure research to allow patients to benefit from the findings as quickly as possible. As a result, the gap between research and healthcare is continuously being closed, with the aim of helping patients both now and in the future.

University Children’s Hospital Zurich (Kispi) is the largest center for pediatrics and children’s surgery in Switzerland and one of the leading hospitals in this field worldwide. The children’s hospital treats and cares for children and adolescents, supports their development, and looks after them and their families. Dedicated staff from a variety of disciplines and professions work together to help the children recover, carrying out research and using state-of-the-art technologies and methods.

The University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich provides psychiatric and psychotherapeutic care for the residents of the city and metropolitan area of Zurich. Its range of services comprises the treatment of mental illness in people of all ages. As a university clinic, it is also involved in teaching and research and has an excellent international network.

The LOOP Zurich is a research center that specializes in precision medicine and also funds research projects (see the projects on this page). It combines pure biomedical research and bioinformatics at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich with clinical research at four university hospitals. The success of research projects depends on the scientific knowledge of the researchers, but also on the state-of-the-art research facilities in biomedical informatics and quantitative biomedicine and the availability of biobanks, comprehensive databases, and the latest high-throughput omics technologies. The goal is always to carry out translational research and develop new treatment methods quickly that will benefit patients.

The «Hochschulmedizin Zürich» brings together the University of Zurich, ETH Zurich, University Hospital Zurich, the University Children’s Hospital Zurich, the University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich, and Balgrist University Hospital. It combines science, medicine, and technology in research and education in the university city of Zurich. Its extensive network makes it the ideal point of contact for researchers looking for a specific area of expertise or a research partner. Following an annual call for proposals, "Hochschulmedizin Zürich" awards flagship grants and helps researchers to develop their project ideas in its workshops. It also supports large-scale, visionary projects with a high level of medical relevance. They bring together research groups from a variety of areas and have the potential to make groundbreaking developments with impacts that go far beyond Zurich.

Every year, around 40,000 people in Switzerland are diagnosed with cancer. To enable patients to benefit from innovative therapies and give them access to personalized treatment plans, the Comprehensive Cancer Center Zurich brings together the expertise of all the oncology specialists at the University of Zurich (UZH), University Hospital Zurich (USZ), the University Children’s Hospital Zurich, and Balgrist University Hospital. Where established procedures have reached their limits, the center of excellence creates a network of experts in the fields of medicine and research to develop innovative diagnostic and therapeutic concepts that meet the highest medical standards.