City of Hope OC Hires Chief Physician

City of Hope Orange County has brought on renowned oncologist Edward Kim as a senior vice president and vice physician-in-chief.

Kim will spearhead physician recruitment, cancer care and research, and introduce entirely new therapies to the community at City of Hope’s planned $1 billion cancer care network in Irvine.

“I’m humbled to join City of Hope in the fight against cancer,” Kim told the Business Journal. “My No. 1 vision is to introduce City of Hope technology, innovation and research and make sure that people can access it close to where they live—in Orange County.” 

Kim said City of Hope OC will serve as a “greenfield for innovation” for the future of cancer care, spanning access to preventative screenings, clinical trials and treatment services. 

“When the City of Hope came to Orange County, we expressed as part of our vision of creating national best practices, our focus on how a large academic research center could interact and work with the community to benefit its health and wellbeing,” Annette Walker, City of Hope OC president, told the Business Journal.

“Dr. Kim has that magic combination, having a deep academic background and an ability to reach into the community.”

Kim was most recently chair of investigational therapies and cancer research and medical director of the clinical trials office at the Levine Cancer Institute of Atrium Health as well as a professor of medicine at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

He previously served as an associate professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

City of Hope OC launched the first of several planned clinics in Newport Beach in January.

The Duarte-based health system expects to open its comprehensive cancer center in 2022 and its specialty cancer hospital in 2025, both of which are being built at Irvine’s Great Park Neighborhoods in collaboration with FivePoint Holdings LLC.