Building (and Expanding) the Best

When Phoenix Children’s Hospital was established in 1983, its first home was within Good Samaritan Medical Center, which leased 71 pediatric beds to Phoenix Children’s. In 2002, the hospital moved to a new freestanding facility on the southwest corner of 20th Street and Thomas Road. Six years later, ground was broken on a $588 million expansion.

The expansion was completed in 2011, and in June of that year, the hospital’s new 11-story tower opened. Since then, the hospital has become one of the most recognizable features of the Phoenix skyline. The campus will continue to grow; several projects are underway to create more clinical and office space.

steppingstone to obtaining independent federal and foundation funding—a crucial necessity for research that can lead to medical breakthroughs.

Senior Director of Philanthropy

Dana Jirauch knew this program would resonate with WINGS (When In Need Grandmas Serve), a philanthropy group that has raised over $1 million for Phoenix Children’s since the group’s inception in 2015.

When Jirauch presented WINGS members with the opportunity to provide a $250,000 grant to fund the Young Investigators Awards, they jumped on it. “To align with one of the hospital’s key priorities right now— fostering research—WINGS feels like they can play a pivotal role in helping Phoenix Children’s be at the forefront of scientific discovery,” Jirauch says.

The grant from WINGS supports up-and-coming researchers, providing them with space in a mentored lab, supplies, research mentors, statisticians, patient recruitment and more.

Dr. Goldman identifies the candidates, seeking those with the highest potential for success, and recruits and supports them throughout a one-to-two-year period during which they’re launching their research careers. The recipient of the first award is Erin Thornley, DO, a pediatric critical care physician who is set to arrive at Phoenix Children’s this summer to begin conducting research on sepsis.

“A young investigator has to start somewhere, but the only way is to have seed funding,” Jirauch says. “Then you can demonstrate results, go to other funding entities, move on to clinical and translational studies. By supporting the Young Investigators Awards, we could be funding the next cure to cancer.”

Adds Dr. Goldman, “Each advancement, each small thing in science makes for a better outcome for sick kids.”

Your generosity helps support Phoenix Children’s commitment to being a pediatric research nexus. To donate, visit GiveToPCH.org/yi

September 1983: Phoenix Children’s Hospital opens its doors within Good Samaritan Medical Center.

1987: Phoenix Children’s Intensive Care Nursery is the first in Arizona to introduce extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), an advanced form of life support.

1992: Dr. Leigh McGill performs a 10-hour surgery to reattach 7-year-old Brian Bogert’s arm after it was severed when he was hit by a truck.

1997: The heart and hand logo is introduced.

2000: The Crews’n Healthmobile, a mobile medical unit, begins providing medical care to children and adolescents experiencing homelessness.

2001: The Children’s Heart Center opens.

2003: Phoenix Children’s and Mayo Clinic introduce the Valley’s first pediatric blood and marrow transplant program, with 14-year-old Ashley Robinson undergoing the hospital’s first bone marrow transplant.

Setting a New Course

20 years of progress under President and CEO Robert Meyer

Building a freestanding children’s hospital was undoubtedly necessary for the community. But construction, coupled with operational challenges, almost bankrupted Phoenix Children’s in the early 2000s. That is, until Robert L. Meyer came into the picture.

Meyer was brought in as a consultant in 2002 to help the board turn the hospital around. But after meeting with the physicians and staff, he was struck. “From the beginning, I was so impressed with the passion—of the physicians, of the board, of the families, of the community for that matter—to make this work,” says Meyer. “And so it became clear to me that we had to find a way.”

1986: Phoenix Children’s Hospital Foundation is founded. Children’s Miracle Network Telethon, the first major fundraising event, raises $210,233.

1990: The Emily Anderson Learning Center, a pediatric health library, opens to the public.

1993: Dr. David Moss successfully removes half of 14-monthold Zachery Leber’s brain to stop continuous seizures.

1994: The Foundation’s inaugural Beach Ball raises more than $121,000

1985: Camp Rainbow, a summer camp for children with cancer and blood disorders, opens in Prescott with 27 kids attending.

And he did. “Doing turnarounds is always difficult, but it’s easier when you have support—and we had support,” he says. “By the end of 2003, we were profitable.”

May 25, 2002: Phoenix Children’s opens a new freestanding hospital at 20th Street and Thomas Road, including Arizona’s first pediatric emergency department.

November 2003: Robert L. Meyer takes the helm as Phoenix Children’s President and CEO.

Under Meyer’s leadership, Phoenix Children’s embarked on a two-decade push to build destination programs, including cardiac, oncology, neuroscience and orthopedic units—all focused on familycentered care. The hospital has invested in learning and development, health care education and geographic expansions to make pediatric care more accessible in Arizona.

“We were one of the first hospitals to adopt family advisory councils,” Meyer says. “And when we asked our families what they needed, the one thing we kept hearing again and again was ‘access.’ That’s when we started to expand with our ambulatory and urgent care centers.”

2006: The hospital launches the first comprehensive pediatric epilepsy program in Arizona.

June

2015: The Bubba Watson and PING Golf Motion Analysis Lab opens to help children with gait abnormalities.

2019: A study led by Michael Kruer, MD, director of the Pediatric Movement Disorders Program, shows that genetics may play a role in causing cerebral palsy.

2020: The COVID-19 pandemic kicks efforts to develop a telehealth program into high gear.

August 2023: Phoenix Children’s Hospital –East Valley, a five-story hospital on the campus of Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, is scheduled to open.

Why Your Donations Matter

Steve Schnall, Phoenix Children’s Chief Development Officer, Foundation, on the transformational effects of philanthropy

Q: Why was it important to build an independent children’s hospital?

2009: Phoenix Children’s and

University of Arizona College of Medicine announce the formation of the Department of Child Health at the medical school.

2008: The play area.

2013: Arizona’s first and only Down syndrome clinic opens.

2017: Phoenix Children’s opens a new $40 million Emergency Department and Trauma Center.

2021: Phoenix Children’s launches WATCHER an early-warning system that alerts a patient’s care team when the patient’s condition is at risk of deteriorating.

2023: Vladimir Kalinichenko, MD, PhD, is appointed director of the Phoenix Children’s Research Institute at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.

2024: A freestanding emergency department is slated to open at Phoenix Children’s – Avondale Campus.

2023

2024: Phoenix Children’s Hospital –Arrowhead Campus, a three-story hospital in Glendale, is projected to open with 24 inpatient beds, an emergency department, a surgery center and a multispecialty clinic.

A: Children are not little adults. They have very unique health care needs, and so having a consolidated children’s hospital allows us to have a depth of resources and expertise that provides a very different standard and level of care than an adult hospital that offers pediatrics can. For example, an adult hospital might have one pediatric cardiologist, one pediatric oncologist on staff. At Phoenix Children’s, we’ve got more than 35 pediatric cardiologists and almost 20 pediatric oncologists. We have a whole team of doctors who treat only kids with brain tumors.

Q: How does philanthropy fuel growth?

2018: At age 10, Gabriel Gonzalez becomes the youngest patient in the world to receive a total artificial heart, which keeps him alive and healthy until a donor heart becomes available.

2022: Give-A-Thon, the country’s largest radiothon for a children’s hospital tops the $2 million mark for the first time.

2019: Phoenix Children’s becomes the first-ever health system in the U.S. to use the Medtronic Stealth Autoguide platform, a robotic guidance system, for neurosurgery.

A: Looking back at old photos and seeing the timeline here reminds me of all we have accomplished, and it makes me all the more grateful for the support of our community. The truth is, we wouldn’t be what we are today without the generosity of our donors. Sure, we would have the lights on and would provide the best possible care to children, but we wouldn’t have the funds we need to open new locations around the Valley so more families can access care, to purchase new equipment and the latest technology that makes a difference for our patients, and to bring in renowned specialists and researchers who will change the future of pediatric