Medical center transforms lives

Pasadena Star News  

By: Cynthia Kurtz                   

Posted 10/30/2013 

This year the City of Hope is celebrating its 100th anniversary. It was 1913 when the Los Angeles Sanatorium opened on 10-acres in the City of Duarte. There were two tents - one for the three patients and one for the nurse. It was a free hospital dedicated to the care of those with life threatening diseases, spurred by the lack of care for tuberculosis patients. 

Its reputation for compassion attracted many supporters and by the 1920s the tents had become buildings, the three patients had grown to hundreds of patients and the nurse had become a team of doctors, nurses and caregivers.

By the mid-1940's tuberculosis was on the decline and the institution's leaders adopted a plan to turn the sanatorium into a national medical center with a focus on cancer. In 1949 the institution officially adopted the name "City of Hope." 

Each decade has brought new services generated by new and often astounding discoveries. Today, City of Hope holds more than 30 new investigation drug applications at any given time. More than 200 patients generate over $220 million each year for medical research. Over 4,300 staff members serve at the not-for-profit research center, hospital, and graduate school which now occupies 110 acres in the central San Gabriel Valley.

City of Hope's research promises to transform the future of medical care through reprogramming patients' immune cells, harvesting compounds from super foods, and using stem cells to reboot immune systems to name just a few of its advanced research projects.

While much has changed over the decades - the compassion at the heart of City of Hope has not. One of City of Hope's early leaders, Samuel Goller said "there is no profit in curing the body if, in the process, we destroy the soul." 

None of this would have ever been possible without great leadership. For the last decade, the City of Hope has been under the exemplary leadership of Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Michael Friedman. This year Dr. Friedman announced that he would retire at the end of 2013.  

Thank you Dr. Friedman and congratulations to everyone at the City of Hope. You have transformed the San Gabriel Valley and the world through research, education, and outstanding compassionate medical care.