City of Hope Orange County appoints oncologist, cancer researcher as physician-in-chief
Edward S. Kim, MD, MBA, FACP, FASCO, has been appointed physician-in-chief for City of Hope Orange County.
Kim will play an integral role in the development of a regional cancer care network in Orange County, California, and a visionary cancer campus underway in Irvine.
City of Hope plans to invest $1 billion to develop and operate the network and campus.
“City of Hope has a phenomenal reputation, and this is the largest expansion in its history,” Kim, who also will serve as senior vice president and vice physician-in-chief for City of Hope National Medical Center, told HemOnc Today. “To be able to help build a second campus that will integrate a community-based regional network that will deliver world-class excellence under the auspices of a prominent academic center focused on cancer really was an opportunity I could not pass up.”
Kim — an oncologist, cancer researcher and HemOnc Today Editorial Board member — is recognized for his expertise in molecular prognostication for lung and head and neck cancers.
“Dr. Kim has a depth and breadth of cancer expertise that is well-matched for the expansion of City of Hope into Orange County,” Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, president of City of Hope National Medical Center and physician-in-chief, said in a press release. “We needed a clinician-scientist who embraces the innovation and energy of the region and is up to the challenge of transforming health care delivery so that breakthroughs are significantly more accessible to those who need them.”
Kim most recently served as chair of solid tumor oncology and investigational therapeutics, Donald S. Kim distinguished chair for cancer research, and medical director of the clinical trials office at Levine Cancer Institute at Atrium Health in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Before that, he served as tenured associate professor in the department of thoracic/head and neck medical oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Kim described his time at MD Anderson as “foundational” in his career in that he learned how to approach and conduct research, as well as the challenges of doing so at a large academic center.
He referred to his time at Levine Cancer Institute as “purposeful,” noting that being part of a community-based, not-for-profit health care system — which conducted research at 26 sites across North Carolina and South Carolina — provided different insights into patient and provider experiences than a tertiary referral academic medical center.
“I really enjoyed the building, the recruitment, the interaction with local communities, and the fact we were able to take research and expertise into rural and underserved communities while really trying to be inclusive with how we were developing our programs,” Kim said.
Kim described his City of Hope appointment as the culmination of his career thus far.
Approximately 20% of Orange County residents diagnosed with cancer seek specialized treatment outside of the county. Many travel to City of Hope’s main campus in Duarte, which is up to 2 hours away for the county’s 3.2 million residents.
As physician-in-chief for City of Hope Orange County, Kim will help lead the development of a care network and new cancer campus that will expand access to novel treatments, clinical trials and cancer prevention services.
“The ability to be treated close to home resonates with people, even more so now amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” Kim said. “City of Hope is among the leaders in [chimeric antigen receptor T-cell] therapy and immuno-oncology, and our mission is to bring that expertise closer to these communities.”
The outpatient portion of the new cancer campus will open in 2022, and the county’s only hospital dedicated exclusively to treating and curing cancer is expected to open in 2025.
“I have to make sure we have the right physicians, the right collaborations and the right expertise,” Kim said. “We will need to refer some patients back to Duarte for specialized services, but we fully expect to have many of the capabilities we need at our second campus in Irvine.”
The expansion also includes plans for several clinical sites within the county, the first of which opened in January in Newport Beach.
“What we dream about for Orange County is to take the principles and best practices from City of Hope and migrate them into these regional practices,” Kim said.
The regional cancer care network will strive to serve patients undergoing active treatment, those who require survivorship care, and healthy individuals at high risk for cancer.
“My origin in cancer was always about prevention,” Kim said. “I feel like that is the way you can impact a population the most, so we will be focusing on those services a great deal.”
He also envisions the regional network serving as a “testing ground” for new ideas.
“Orange County is a Silicon Valley of Southern California,” he said. “There’s so much technology, so many entrepreneurs and so many dreamers here, and we are encouraging the local businesses and the people of the county to be highly engaged in this build.
“My focus is on innovation, collaboration and, most importantly, implementation,” he added. “Some things will work really well and maybe some other things won’t. My attitude has always been: If we don’t fail at something, then we didn’t put our goals high enough.”