| Universitaire ziekenhuizen Leuven | |
| Region: | Leuven |
| State: | Flemish Region |
| Country: | Belgium |
| Coordinates: | 50.8804°N 4.6955°W |
| Funding: | Non-profit |
| Type: | Teaching hospital |
| Religious Affiliation: | Roman Catholicism |
| Affiliation: | KU Leuven |
| Beds: | 1,995 |
| Founded: | 1080 (as Sint-Pietersziekenhuis) 1426 (academic hospital) 1970 (current structure) |
| Demolished: | 2020 (Sint-Pietersziekenhuis) |
| Constructed: | ~1080 (Sint-Pietersziekenhuis) 1971 (Gasthuisberg) |
Universitair Ziekenhuis Leuven or University Hospitals Leuven, often shortened to UZ Leuven, is an academic hospital in Leuven, Belgium, associated with the university KU Leuven. It consists of three campuses as of 2022; Gasthuisberg, Pellenberg and Sint-Rafaël.[1] [2]
The hospital has 1,995 beds and over 9,000 employees.[1]
Literally translated 'guest house hill' (gasthuis is an obsolete Dutch word for hospital), its name has become synonymous with UZ Leuven. It is the biggest and most well known of all the campuses. It houses many facilities of the university among which research laboratories, auditoria of the faculty of medicine and faculty of pharmaceutical sciences, a manual procedures training center, a library and a student restaurant. Aside from the KU Leuven, the UCLL (University Colleges Leuven Limburg), part of KU Leuven Association, also has teaching facilities on the Gasthuisberg campus where bachelor’s degree programs such as nursing, dental hygiene, midwifery, medical imagery and other fields are taught.
The campus also includes St. Francis, affiliated with UCLL, which offers associate degrees in nursing. Lastly, there is the Leuven Perfusion School, affiliated with KU Leuven, which trains nurses and medical doctors in order to become certified clinical perfusionists.
Still expanding, this campus is known for being almost permanently under construction since the start of its construction in the early 1970s.
Campus Pellenberg is located in the district of Pellenberg, about 8 km from the city center of Leuven. It is located in a more rural area and is most known for being a recovery clinic.
As of 2017, UZ Leuven is relocating several services from the Pellenberg campus to the main campus, Gasthuisberg.
Sint-Pieter (Saint-Peter) was the oldest campus dating back to the year 1080. It used to be located in the city center.
By 2019, all operations in this campus were halted as the move to the Gasthuisberg campus was completed. Demolition of the buildings has been completed since 2021.
Sint-Rafaël (Saint-Raphael) is located next to campus Sint-Pieter within the inner city of Leuven. There are some older auditoria and laboratories which are still in use. The human dissections of the faculty of medicine used to take place here. In 2020, a new human dissection teaching center opened at Campus Gasthuisberg. Since most clinical and educational operations now moved to campus Gasthuisberg, the Sint Rafael campus is partly deconstructed.