NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., October 25, 2017 --- Last night at the 10-year anniversary celebration for
Hoag Neurosciences Institute, the Pickup Family Foundation announced a $15 million gift to support
the nationally recognized Institute – and Hoag officials responded
by renaming it the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute.
“The Pickup family’s extraordinary generosity will enable Hoag
to dramatically expand and accelerate clinical research and treatment
of the many critical conditions our programs focus on at the Institute,” said
Hoag President and Chief Executive Officer Robert T. Braithwaite. “Their gift is further affirmation of Hoag’s growing national
leadership in neurosciences. We are deeply grateful to the Pickup family
for their support and trust.”
Established in 2007, the newly-renamed Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute
has steadily expanded over the past decade to offer nationally leading
programs exploring causes of and groundbreaking treatments for virtually
all aspects of neuroscience-based medical conditions. These range from
cognitive disorders,
stroke,
epilepsy, and
back and spine issues, to
headache studies and treatment,
sleep difficulties and
movement disorders. The Institute offers innovative technology such as the county’s
only MR/PET imager, Perfexion gamma knife stereotactic brain tumor treatment
and surgical procedures using augmented-reality, 3D Surgical Theater.
In 2018, the Institute will open the Fudge Family Acute Rehabilitation
Center, an on-campus residential facility at
Hoag Hospital Newport Beach that will enable clinicians to provide uninterrupted follow-up care to
patients recovering from strokes and other acute brain traumas.
Richard Pickup, owner of Balboa Bay Resort and Newport Beach Country Club,
said the family gift was inspired by two compelling factors: their long-time
admiration of and affiliation with Hoag, and the recent loss of a beloved
family member to
Alzheimer’s disease.
“There have been breakthroughs in cancer and cardiology and other
areas of medicine, but there is still so much that is unknown about the
brain,” said Pickup. “From Alzheimer’s to addiction
and other brain disorders, we have a lot left to learn. I am hoping that
in the next 10 years or so we can make significant strides in these areas.”
Pickup added that the family’s gift was made in the hope it will
aid in the discovery of new treatments and cures for brain disorders,
which afflict millions of people.
“I have found over the years that if you have passionate, educated
people dedicated to long-term success like those at Hoag, they make things
happen,” said Pickup. “With good management and passion, you
can achieve breakthroughs. I’m hoping to be back for the 20th anniversary celebration of the Institute to see what strides we have made
in neurosciences.”
Long-time Newport Beach philanthropists, the Pickup family has made numerous
gifts to Hoag and other organizations throughout the years, but this is
the family’s largest single gift. Richard Pickup, who has made a
career of analyzing companies and what makes them successful, said he
has long been impressed with the leadership and vision at Hoag.
“The Pickup family’s immense generosity will benefit generations
of community members,” said
Flynn A. Andrizzi, Ph.D., president of Hoag Hospital Foundation. “Hoag continues to distinguish itself through its extraordinary
innovation, none of which would be possible without the support of the
community we serve and compassionate families like the Pickups.”
The anniversary celebration also honored the singular vision and team led
by Michael Brant-Zawadzki, M.D., senior physician executive at Hoag and
the Ron & Sandi Simon Executive
Medical Director Endowed Chair of the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute. Dr.
Brant-Zawadzki has helped aggregate the original group of programs and
expand them to create a neurosciences institute ten years ago, which has
since gone on to earn national recognition and add prestigious physicians
and programs to its service offerings.
“The Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute is a model of what it
means to provide patients with a continuum of care. It is thanks to the
visionary leadership of Dr. Brant-Zawadzki and Vice President of Clinical
Institutes
Dori Holnagel as well as Sheila Porter, executive director of the Institute, that we
have become a leader in neurosciences,” said Braithwaite.
Born and raised in Whittier, Richard Pickup moved to Newport Beach in the
1960s and later founded Eagle Four Partners, a private equity firm specializing
in hospitality, golf, lifestyle and residential real estate developments.
Two of the Pickup children were born at Hoag Hospital in the 1960s, and
Richard Pickup was treated at Hoag for a stroke 10 years ago.
“Most of my life, I’ve been trying to build an estate. But
when you reach your 80s, you realize that material things pale in comparison
to what mankind can do with these monies,” Pickup said. “For
our family, being affiliated with a number of charities in a number of
areas, we felt it was time to make a meaningful gift. We investigated
Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute and the breakthroughs being made,
and knew we were making the right decision with this gift.”
ABOUT HOAG HOSPITAL FOUNDATION
Thanks in large part to philanthropy, Hoag has become one of the nation’s
finest health care systems and serves a diverse and growing population.
Hoag Hospital Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Hoag (a separate 501(c)(3)
corporation), is an integral partner in Hoag’s vision to become
a trusted and nationally recognized health care leader. Under the direction
of a volunteer Board of Directors, the Foundation launched Hoag Promise,
Our Campaign to Lead, Innovate & Transform. With a goal of $627 million
by 2020, the promise of the comprehensive campaign is to drive Hoag’s
continued clinical leadership, innovative spirit and transformative potential.
Please visit
www.hoagpromise.org.
ABOUT HOAG MEMORIAL HOSPITAL PRESBYTERIAN
Hoag is an approximately $1 billion nonprofit, regional health care delivery
network in Orange County, California, that treats more than 30,000 inpatients
and 425,000 outpatients annually. Hoag consists of two acute-care hospitals
– Hoag Hospital Newport Beach, which opened in 1952, and Hoag Hospital
Irvine, which opened in 2010 – in addition to seven health centers
and ten urgent care centers. Hoag is a designated Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Hoag offers
a comprehensive blend of health care services that includes five institutes
providing specialized services in the following areas:
cancer,
heart and vascular,
neurosciences,
women’s health, and orthopedics through Hoag’s affiliate,
Hoag Orthopedic Institute, which consists of an orthopedic hospital and two ambulatory surgical centers.
In 2013, Hoag entered into an alliance with St. Joseph Health to further
expand health care services in the Orange County community, known as St.
Joseph Hoag Health. Hoag has been named one of the Best Regional Hospitals
in the 2017 - 2018
U.S. News & World Report, andBecker’s Hospital Review named Hoag as one of the 2016 “100 Great Hospitals in America”
– a designation Hoag has received four times. For an unprecedented
22 years, residents of Orange County have chosen Hoag as one of the county’s
best hospitals in a local newspaper survey. Visit
www.hoag.org for more information.
###