Pictured at the Koman Family Outpatient Pavilion ribbon cutting are (from left to right) Dr. David A. Brenner; Dr. Catriona Jamieson; Blaire Koman; Laine Koman; Bill Koman; Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla; Amy Koman; Patricia Maysent; Dr. Anne Wallace; Dr. Steven Garfin; and Dr. A. Karim Kader. Photos by Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego Publications

Koman Family Outpatient Pavilion at UC San Diego Health Dedicated

April 25 event recognizes the generosity of the Koman family and their commitment to creating a healthier world

“This is indeed a great day for UC San Diego, it’s a great day for UC San Diego Health, and it’s a great day for San Diego,” said UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla as he welcomed guests at the April 25 dedication of the Koman Family Outpatient Pavilion. “Thank you to Amy and Bill Koman and their family. They have supported Moores Cancer Center, and now we are recognizing a very generous gift with the naming of the Koman Family Outpatient Pavilion. This facility complements our complete offering in terms of healthcare.”

UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla addressed the audience at the April 25 dedication of the Koman Family Outpatient Pavilion.

Located on UC San Diego’s La Jolla campus, the 156,000-square-foot building represents the most recent addition to the university’s world-class medical campus. Opened to patients in March 2018, the new facility offers the best clinical care and translational medicine in one location, with an array of integrated outpatient services that include multi-specialty clinics for breast, urology, sports medicine and spine care. There are eight surgery suites, basic and advanced imaging, physical therapy and pain management plus infusion and apheresis services.

“The Koman family has been remarkably generous to all of us,” said Dr. David A. Brenner, Vice Chancellor of UC San Diego Health Sciences. “Pedal the Cause, the Koman Family Presidential Endowed Chair, scholarships … in your own way, you are changing the world and we are grateful. Thank you very much.”

One of the four Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center sites is also housed in the new outpatient pavilion. The clinic was developed to transform the enormous potential of stem cell research into effective therapies for patients with degenerative diseases. Brenner said, “Perhaps the most revolutionary clinic in the entire building, and I think the first clinic devoted ever to stem cell therapy, is thanks to the generosity of our very good friend Denny Sanford.”

“We’ve had visionary leadership from Denny Sanford that enabled us to establish the first stem cell program that has a real clinical place to be here. Thanks for your important leadership,” added Dr. Catriona Jamieson, deputy director of the Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center and director of stem cell research at Moores Cancer Center, where she and colleagues are developing and conducting multiple clinical trials with promising indicators.

Located on UC San Diego’s La Jolla campus, the 156,000-square-foot building represents the most recent addition to the university’s world-class medical campus.

She continued, “And to the Koman family, thanks for giving the opportunity to have a beautiful space where people have great expectations for the future. We’re going on an expedition here with new frontiers in medicine. And to do that we need evidence, we need the right equipment, we need empathy and we need endurable energy. We are really so impressed with your vision. It is also a real privilege to hold the Koman Family Presidential Endowed Chair in Cancer Research.”

Jamieson is the inaugural recipient of the Koman Family Presidential Endowed Chair in Cancer Research, which was established through the generosity of the Koman family. Also deputy director of the Moores Cancer Center and chair of the Division of Regenerative Medicine, she epitomizes the physician-scientist, with both a productive lab and an active clinical practice.

Dr. Anne Wallace, who heads the comprehensive breast health center in the Koman Family Outpatient Pavilion, told the audience, “I had a vision many years ago to be more comprehensive.” She shared a story about a breast cancer patient from El Centro who illustrates the advantage of having all services housed in one building. “We knew that for a lot of underserved, it is very hard for them to take off work and come in for everything. We were able to coordinate all her care to see us, to get her infusion set up, and coordinators in the advanced imaging centers downstairs were able to work with us so that they could immediately book our patient. So, it’s having an immediate impact and it is fulfilling a lot of the vision that we had. It is really incredible for our patients.”

Bill Koman, whose family has been recognized for their generosity with the naming of the Koman Family Outpatient Pavilion, shared his passion for supporting cancer research at the facility’s dedication.

The Koman Family Outpatient Pavilion is named in honor of Bill and Amy Koman and family in recognition of their generosity and dedication to advancing health care in San Diego. The Komans are passionate cancer research advocates and the founders of Padres Pedal the Cause, an annual local cycling event that raises millions of dollars for collaborative cancer research in San Diego at Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health, Salk Institute, Sanford-Burnham Prebys Medical Center and Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego.

Bill Koman, who has been treated for cancer several times including a bone marrow transplant, explained to guests at the dedication why his family supports cancer research: “Amy and I decided: let’s make cancer research a passion of ours, let’s see what we can do as lay people. So that to me is how we worked it. It hasn’t been by understanding the science, it’s by looking up things and saying how do you make a difference for somebody on the outside; how do you leverage both your relationships—whether it’s peers or people in the community—as touch points that you might have to rally around a great cause.”

The Koman family gifts contribute to the Campaign for UC San Diego. Supported in part by philanthropy, in the past five years UC San Diego Health has invested more than $1.3 billion dollars in patient care facilities for the community.