In 1952, Dr. Nobuyuki Kawata opened a small private practice in Inglewood, California and quickly established himself as one of the premiere practitioners in cardiology in southern California. In fact, Dr. Kawata went on to become the Chief of Medicine and Chief of Staff at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood.
In 1980, Dr. Kawata moved his practice to UCLA. Joining him at this time were Drs. Jon Kobashigawa and Jaime Moriguchi. Together they formally established University Cardiovascular Medical Group (UCMG). At UCLA, Dr. Kawata was instrumental in the development of the Heart Transplant Program, which is now among the world's largest cardiac transplant programs.
Under Dr. Kawata's leadership, UCMG became one of the few practices in the country that balanced private practice with academic medicine, growing to mirror the mission of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in its dedication to teaching, research and patient care.
