IRVINE, Calif. (March 21, 2022) – Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian today announced a $50 million gift from the Sun Family Foundation to serve as a catalyst for Hoag’s ongoing expansion that will usher in major new health care facilities, technology and treatment protocols for the residents of Orange County and beyond. The gift – and the physical expansion and medical advancements it will help make possible – underscores Hoag’s emergence as a global destination for medical excellence, unparalleled service and patient-focused outcomes.
“This remarkable gift from the Sun Family Foundation will enable Hoag to dramatically expand the breadth of outstanding health care services available to the Orange County community,” said Flynn A. Andrizzi, Ph.D, president of Hoag Hospital Foundation. “The Sun family’s generosity is a testament to the unique relationship Hoag enjoys with the community – and how, together, we can make Orange County stronger and healthier.”
“Our gift is no more important or meaningful than any other gift to Hoag, no matter the amount, if it comes from the heart and is made in the hope of helping others,” said David Sun, Kingston Technology’s chief operating officer, who co-founded the company with business partner John Tu. “Diana and I simply hope this gift will inspire others to give whatever they can, as Hoag increasingly assumes a leadership role nationally in providing innovative health care that saves lives.”
Sun and Tu founded Fountain Valley-based Kingston Technology in 1987, several years after the duo started a technology company called Camintonn in a garage. When AST Research bought Camintonn, Sun and Tu came on board as division vice presidents. When the stock market crashed on Oct. 19, 1987, they lost everything.
Soon thereafter they founded Kingston Technology, today the top maker of memory products for computers and consumer electronics. Sun and Tu made international headlines in 1996 when they handed out $100 million to company employees after selling 80 percent of the company to Softbank. They bought it back in 1999; Kingston Technology grew over the years to become America’s largest private company, with operations in six countries, a 3,500-person workforce, and revenue in 2019 of nearly $13 billion.
“Hoag has a very special place in our hearts, to say the very least,” said Diana Sun, who is a former Board Member of the Hoag Hospital Foundation and serves on the Hoag Expansion Executive Committee. “Had it not been for the world-class specialists and care available right here in our community, my mother might not have survived her benign brain tumor several years ago. The care and compassion Hoag showed her – and our entire family – was incredible. David and I hope this gift will enable many, many more people to experience that care and compassion if and when they need it.”
Between the Sun Family Foundation and the Kingston Technology Foundation, more than $52.3 million has been directed to Hoag. Recently, moved by the community’s urgent need for outstanding care during the pandemic, the Kingston Technology Foundation gave $2 million to Hoag’s COVID-19 Fund. In 2015, the Sun Family Foundation directed more than $300,000 to support the expansion of the emergency department at Hoag Hospital Irvine. In gratitude, Hoag officials named a high-acuity treatment room in their honor.
With this latest gift from the Sun Family Foundation, Hoag’s commitment to expanding world-class health care – and accompanying health education, innovation, research and technology – exceeds $1.3 billion in Orange County over just the last decade. The transformational gift will enable Hoag to turn its Irvine campus into an internationally prominent comprehensive center for medical treatment, research and education.
“Hoag is elevating health care and wellness in Orange County by transforming our delivery of care to an integrated, specialized services-based model,” said Hoag President and CEO Robert T. Braithwaite. “We are engaging with our Board and the community to shape our Orange County expansion and look forward to announcing details in the coming months. Already, Hoag’s world-class care attracts patients from around the globe. Fueled by the newest technological advancements and delivered by the compassionate men and women who are the foundation of our unique care, this new paradigm of health care is certain to appeal broadly to patients in Orange County, throughout Southern California and beyond.”
This reimagination of health care comes after a global pandemic exposed the strengths and weaknesses of the nation’s healthcare system. What became clear to those in Orange County is how much the community trusts and looks to Hoag for leadership, Braithwaite explained.
“We have the national reputation and expertise of a major academic institution, but our community-centered mission keeps us nimble enough to act quickly in times of heightened need,” said Dan Young, chair of Hoag’s Board of Directors. “We saw that from day one of the pandemic, when we successfully treated the state’s first COVID-19 patient and then launched into clinical trials and cutting-edge treatments that continue to inform the way COVID-19 is treated nationwide. By expanding our research and treatment capacities in Orange County, we will be able to deliver more innovative care to more people, more quickly.”
Located in the geographic center of Orange County, Hoag’s Irvine campus is just four miles from John Wayne Airport and world-class short- and long-term housing options for patients outside the region seeking access to respected doctors and innovative facilities.
“The key to health care equity is elevating quality of care. Those hospitals that invest in preventative care, in research and in expanding access will transform health care for the nation,” Young said. “Hoag is poised to be that transformative national leader.”
“Irvine is admired as one of America’s most innovative and livable cities in part because of the vibrant and welcoming environment it fosters that enables forward-thinking companies and organizations to thrive,” said Irvine Mayor Farrah N. Khan. “Hoag definitely fits the mold of a forward-thinking organization, and the City is proud that it has chosen Irvine to expand its acclaimed services.”
Hoag is already proving to be a powerful recruitment tool for acclaimed physician specialists, nurses, clinical care givers and other health care professionals attracted to Hoag’s creative vision for 21st Century health and wellness.
For example, Gary A. Ulaner, M.D., Ph.D., FACNM, James & Pamela Muzzy Endowed Chair in Molecular Imaging and Therapy, a nationally recognized, dual-board certified radiologist and nuclear medicine physician, recently joined Hoag from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to head Hoag’s Molecular Imaging & Therapy Program. Dr. Ulaner has brought multiple clinical trials to Hoag. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the trials are using molecular imaging to better target and destroy deadly cancers.
“I have been blown-away by the vision of Hoag’s leadership, the commitment of Hoag’s teams to provide world-class care, and the support I have personally received to grow targeted imaging trials that benefit patients with cancer,” Dr. Ulaner said.
Melinda Hoag Smith, whose family founded the hospital, along with the Association of Presbyterian Members, said she is proud of Hoag’s vision for the future.
“My parents and grandparents would be so proud to see what Hoag has achieved, and what it will continue to achieve as a result of its bold pledge to build and deliver an innovative health care system that is designed for all county residents, at all stages of their lives,” Hoag Smith said.
ABOUT HOAG
Hoag is a nonprofit, regional health care delivery network in Orange County, California, that treats more than 30,000 inpatients and 460,000 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 nine health centers and 14 urgent care centers. Hoag has invested $261 million in programs and services to support the underserved community within the past five years, including areas like mental health, homelessness, transportation for seniors, education, and support for single mothers. Hoag is a designated Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Hoag offers a comprehensive blend of health care services that includes six institutes providing specialized services in the following areas: cancer, digestive health, heart and vascular, neurosciences, women’s health, and orthopedics through Hoag’s affiliate, Hoag Orthopedic Institute, which consists of an orthopedic hospital and four ambulatory surgical centers. In the 2021-2022 U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals Rankings, Hoag is the highest ranked hospital in Orange County and the only OC hospital ranked in the Top 10 in California. For an unprecedented 23 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.
About the Sun Family Foundation
David and Diana Sun founded the Sun Family Foundation in 1999 with the vision of sharing their good fortune with the local communities that have supported their family and business ventures. Since the Foundation’s inception, it has primarily focused on providing educational opportunities and health care programs for underserved youth. The focus on education was inspired by David’s late mother, Guang Yuan, who was a beloved and popular high school biology teacher in Taichung, Taiwan. Guang Yuan served as a confidant and trusted advisor to thousands of students throughout her 30-year teaching career, while also raising three children as a single mother. In 2011, in his mother’s memory, David and Diana formed the Guang Yuan Charitable Foundation in Taiwan, which has provided more than 7,000 scholarships to underprivileged elementary, junior high school, senior high school, college and vocational students across the country of Taiwan.
The Foundation is now run by two generations of family members, with its next generation now holding leadership positions and helping to shape the Foundation’s future strategy toward philanthropy and grantmaking. In recent years, the Foundation has expanded its grantmaking to support not only education, but also organizations that provide services to underserved individuals and communities. The Suns envision using the Foundation to bring the family closer together across generations and to pass on David and Diana’s legacy of philanthropy.
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