Hoag officials return the honor by naming Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute.
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., October 25, 2017 --- Last night at the 10-year anniversary celebration for Hoag Neurosciences Institute, the Pickup Family Foundation announced a $15 million gift to support the nationally recognized Institute – and Hoag officials responded by renaming it the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute.
“The Pickup family’s extraordinary generosity will enable Hoag to dramatically expand and accelerate clinical research and treatment of the many critical conditions our programs focus on at the Institute,” said Hoag President and Chief Executive Officer Robert T. Braithwaite. “Their gift is further affirmation of Hoag’s growing national leadership in neurosciences. We are deeply grateful to the Pickup family for their support and trust.”
Established in 2007, the newly-renamed Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute has steadily expanded over the past decade to offer nationally leading programs exploring causes of and groundbreaking treatments for virtually all aspects of neuroscience-based medical conditions. These range from cognitive disorders, stroke, epilepsy, and back and spine issues, to headache studies and treatment, sleep difficulties and movement disorders. The Institute offers innovative technology such as the county’s only MR/PET imager, Perfexion gamma knife stereotactic brain tumor treatment and surgical procedures using augmented-reality, 3D Surgical Theater. In 2018, the Institute will open the Fudge Family Acute Rehabilitation Center, an on-campus residential facility at Hoag Hospital Newport Beach that will enable clinicians to provide uninterrupted follow-up care to patients recovering from strokes and other acute brain traumas.
Richard Pickup, owner of Balboa Bay Resort and Newport Beach Country Club, said the family gift was inspired by two compelling factors: their long-time admiration of and affiliation with Hoag, and the recent loss of a beloved family member to Alzheimer’s disease.
“There have been breakthroughs in cancer and cardiology and other areas of medicine, but there is still so much that is unknown about the brain,” said Pickup. “From Alzheimer’s to addiction and other brain disorders, we have a lot left to learn. I am hoping that in the next 10 years or so we can make significant strides in these areas.”
Pickup added that the family’s gift was made in the hope it will aid in the discovery of new treatments and cures for brain disorders, which afflict millions of people.
“I have found over the years that if you have passionate, educated people dedicated to long-term success like those at Hoag, they make things happen,” said Pickup. “With good management and passion, you can achieve breakthroughs. I’m hoping to be back for the 20th anniversary celebration of the Institute to see what strides we have made in neurosciences.”
Long-time Newport Beach philanthropists, the Pickup family has made numerous gifts to Hoag and other organizations throughout the years, but this is the family’s largest single gift. Richard Pickup, who has made a career of analyzing companies and what makes them successful, said he has long been impressed with the leadership and vision at Hoag.
“The Pickup family’s immense generosity will benefit generations of community members,” said Flynn A. Andrizzi, Ph.D., president of Hoag Hospital Foundation. “Hoag continues to distinguish itself through its extraordinary innovation, none of which would be possible without the support of the community we serve and compassionate families like the Pickups.”
The anniversary celebration also honored the singular vision and team led by Michael Brant-Zawadzki, M.D., senior physician executive at Hoag and the Ron & Sandi Simon Executive Medical Director Endowed Chair of the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute. Dr. Brant-Zawadzki has helped aggregate the original group of programs and expand them to create a neurosciences institute ten years ago, which has since gone on to earn national recognition and add prestigious physicians and programs to its service offerings.
“The Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute is a model of what it means to provide patients with a continuum of care. It is thanks to the visionary leadership of Dr. Brant-Zawadzki and Vice President of Clinical Institutes Dori Holnagel as well as Sheila Porter, executive director of the Institute, that we have become a leader in neurosciences,” said Braithwaite.
Born and raised in Whittier, Richard Pickup moved to Newport Beach in the 1960s and later founded Eagle Four Partners, a private equity firm specializing in hospitality, golf, lifestyle and residential real estate developments. Two of the Pickup children were born at Hoag Hospital in the 1960s, and Richard Pickup was treated at Hoag for a stroke 10 years ago.
“Most of my life, I’ve been trying to build an estate. But when you reach your 80s, you realize that material things pale in comparison to what mankind can do with these monies,” Pickup said. “For our family, being affiliated with a number of charities in a number of areas, we felt it was time to make a meaningful gift. We investigated Hoag Neurosciences Institute and the breakthroughs being made, and knew we were making the right decision with this gift.”
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