Cancer treatment plans went big in Orange County in 2019—witness Mission Hospital’s November unveiling of its new Judi and Bill Leonard Institute for Cancer Prevention, Treatment and Wellness in Mission Viejo, and the $120 million in funding now raised by Irvine’s Laboratory for Advanced Medicine, a 5-year-old firm that uses artificial intelligence to identify early stages of specific cancers.
An even more ambitious plan is taking place at the Great Park Neighborhoods in Irvine, where Annette Walker is working to build one of the biggest, and scientifically advanced, cancer research centers in the world.
As president of the City of Hope Orange County, she is orchestrating a $1 billion investment at the site, a project being overseen in conjunction with Great Park developer FivePoint Holdings LLC and its chief executive, Emile Haddad.
Walker and Haddad’s goal: to build the biggest healthcare development in Orange County in more than a decade, a project designed to serve OC’s residents who want the best cancer treatments in the county, as well as spur a new generation of healthcare and tech-focused advances in the immediate area.
Currently, a good portion of people needing treatment have to travel to Los Angeles County’s Duarte, where City of Hope has an existing 100-acre campus. It’s about 45 miles from Irvine.
A 2021 opening is the goal for the Irvine site’s comprehensive outpatient cancer center and surgery center to open.
It’s the first of several phases of development planned at the local campus.
Bringing that kind of “care by 2021 is a really audacious goal and we’re really excited about it,” Walker said.
“What attracts people is a good quality of life—and I think Orange County turns up the dial on that beautiful environment, good education, nice communities.”
Walker’s role in developing the Irvine project earned her the Business Journal’s Business Person of the Year award for healthcare.
Community Recognition
The latest recognition for Walker is “a nod to the importance to the City of Hope and what it means for the community,” Walker told the Business Journal.
Walker, a mother of six and grandmother of 12, is well known in Orange County healthcare circles, where she has more than 30 years of experience. Last year, she also picked up the Business Journal’s Women in Business award.
She was previously president of strategy at Providence St. Joseph Health where she oversaw 51 hospitals across seven states, as well as chief executive at Irvine’s St. Joseph Health. In 2016, she won a Business Journal Excellence in Innovation award as well for spearheading development of Wellness Corners, a new concept that brought medical and related services to where people live, work and play.
Walker in 2018 joined City of Hope, a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. U.S. News & World Report has named it one of the nation’s elite cancer hospitals.
Bringing the City of Hope here has “reignited my love for Orange County and what a good decision it was specifically to come and do work in this space.”
The Start
She initially envisioned a 73,000-square foot cancer center. She then began to think of a much bigger project because of the increasing demand.
A significantly larger plan was announced last summer when City of Hope said it would buy one of four buildings at the FivePoint Gateway office campus, as well as excess space near the facility for parking and a micro-hospital, along with other uses.
The existing office runs 190,000 square feet, and was initially designed as a tech and development-focused building for Broadcom, but never occupied by the chipmaker. FivePoint bought it back from Broadcom a few years ago.
The currently empty office will be converted to City of Hope’s medical and research facilities.
It will hold space for cutting-edge cancer outpatient treatment, research, and other uses.
Big Campus
Along with the existing office, City of Hope’s deal with FivePoint also includes the purchase of 11 acres of adjacent land that will hold additional development for the cancer center.
In total, the campus is expected to include:
• Orange County’s only specialty hospital dedicated solely to treating and curing cancer.
• An outpatient cancer center offering diagnostic imaging and screenings, precision medicine and early detection, medical oncology, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgical oncology, and ambulatory surgery.
• A clinical research center offering Phase I through III clinical trials.
• Personalized supportive care services that include palliative care physicians, psychiatrists, social workers, and others.
• Access to a wide range of solid tumor and blood cancer specialists dedicated to finding the best treatments for each patient.
A sales price for the office and land has yet to be announced; the project was going through the approval process with the city as of late December.
Ripple Effects
The deal has numerous ripple-down effects on the local business community.
City of Hope will be making a hiring push for the new facilities, while also bringing employees down from Duarte.
Drug manufacturing jobs here are likely to get a boost; manufacturing will be done on-site, according to Robert Stone, City of Hope’s president.
Area universities could partner with City of Hope.
While the larger campus near the Orange County Great Park is being built, Walker bought a building in Newport Center for City of Hope’s first outpatient facility in Orange County.
It’s scheduled to open this month.
“Most cancer treatment is outpatient” and it would help patients’ quality of life if those treatments were closer to home, she said.
