In August, Mission Hospital appointed Seth Teigen to the chief executive position, just months ahead of the unveiling of its new Judi and Bill Leonard Institute for Cancer Prevention, Treatment and Wellness, which will take place early next month.
The Leonard Cancer Institute, located at Mission’s main campus next to The Shops at Mission Viejo, cost an estimated $80 million to build. About $35 million of the costs were covered by philanthropy and another $45 million came from parent Providence St. Joseph Health.
The Mission Viejo center is one of two new major facilities devoted to cancer with big plans for Orange County.
City of Hope out of Duarte is also planning to tackle cancer outside of the academic rings by creating its own cancer treatment hub at Irvine’s Great Park Neighborhoods; that project has a $1 billion commitment, and backing from developer FivePoint Communities to achieve its goal of a 2025 opening.
When asked what separates Mission from other cancer centers, Teigen said, “The sisters of St. Joseph, that’s what makes us different: our faith-based heritage.”
Among other amenities, the Leonard Cancer Institute will incorporate a new chapel.
“How lucky are we to be standing on the shoulders of our sisters to take care of the community?” Teigen said, speaking of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange.
“We are here to take care of the community, and we are here to take care of the poor and vulnerable.”
The Vision
Teigen, who is from Wisconsin, has a vision of creating a spiritual community of support through Catholicism. It’s one of the “boxes” that Mission checked for Teigen when considering the opportunity. The father of two boys, ages 6 and 8, also took into account the area’s good schools.
Even though Teigen has served as CEO of multiple hospitals in the past, coming to California meant he would be “managing more” and he really wanted to “get back to a Level 1 trauma center,” which Mission has. Plus, he loves the “intensity of the ER.”
Mission—with hospital locations along Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, in addition to its main Mission Viejo campus, and a total of 518 beds—has bigger plans than just the cancer institute’s treatment strategies.
“We are also going to have a big center for gastrointestinal” needs, as well as head and neck surgeries.
“There are eight or nine [surgeons],” Teigen told the Business Journal speaking on focus areas. “I’m using the word world-class again.”
Leonard Family
The Leonard family—Bill Leonard previously ran food services company Aramark—gave their first contribution to Mission before the start of the new millennium in 1999 as a $100 mail-in check. Since then, the family has made 24 individual gifts, and supported events and campaigns.
Bill served on the Mission Hospital Foundation board of directors from 2006 to 2014 while his daughter, Debbie Perez, has served on the board since 2015.
The Leonards’ “eight-figure gift,” which was made last year, was the single-largest ever in the Mission Hospital Foundation’s 24-year history. The exact size of the gift wasn’t disclosed.
The Leonard family’s stated reason for giving to the cancer center, was simply that “We have to be part of it,” recalled Carrie Miller, communications director.
Over the past half-decade, Mission has upgraded its facilities in both Mission Viejo and Laguna Beach; the latter now has the Sue and Bill Gross Emergency Department following a $10 million donation from the couple before their 2017 divorce.
“The emergency room at Mission Hospital Laguna Beach will always have a special place in my heart since it’s where I took my son when he had a few tumbles as a kid,” Sue Gross said last week at a ribbon cutting for an upgraded emergency room. “Any mom knows those are always stressful moments and the team here was always so kind to both me and Nick.”
Mission Hospital has created “an environment that we believe is going to be world-class,” Teigen said.
Aside from a full-service care system that offers a cohesive and comprehensive care team, Mission looks to challenge academic institutions with its future innovations and will offer “genomic and molecular testing” to determine risk for developing certain related cancers.
“There’s going to be a research component that now only exists in the academic” institutions and medical centers, Teigen said.
