City of Hope receives $100M from Panda Express founders

The co-founders of Panda Express donated $100 million to City of Hope cancer hospital to the support creation of a national oncology program aimed at improving treatment outcomes and quality of life for cancer patients and their families, officials announced Tuesday.

The donation by Andrew and Peggy Cherng is the largest single contribution ever received by Duarte-based City of Hope and the largest donation ever made by the Panda Charitable Family Foundation.

“We are grateful for this gift, which will allow us to lead the way in integrative oncology and continue to pioneer compassionate medical innovation as we have done at City of Hope for more than 100 years,” City of Hope CEO Robert Stone said in a statement. “Innovative and holistic care is part of our culture and mission; we are committed to supporting and treating the whole patient — not just the cancer. I am honored that our cancer expertise, world-class research environment, national patient population, robust clinical trials program and compassionate ethos have prepared City of Hope to lead this work.”

With the donation, the hospital will establish the Cherng Family Center for Integrative Oncology at City of Hope. According to the hospital, the idea of integrative oncology is a “whole-person approach” to cancer care that “draws from diverse cultures, particularly traditional Chinese medicine and other Eastern healing traditions.”

“Rigorous research on Eastern therapies could result in evidence-based insights that fuel the development of more effective cancer medicines and care,” according to a hospital statement.

Hospital officials said 40% of cancer patients use such integrative therapies, but few health care organizations provide access to them under doctor supervision.

“Panda Restaurant Group began 50 years ago with a vision to bring the best of Eastern and Western flavors and cultures together through food,” Peggy Cherng said in a statement. “In the same spirit, we hope the Cherng Family Center of Integrative Oncology becomes a model of bringing the best of Eastern and Western medicine together to unlock holistic healing for our communities. At Panda, one of our core values is giving and we are grateful to help establish, through this gift from the Panda Charitable Family Foundation, pioneering integrated cancer care to not only save lives, but improve the quality of life for cancer patients.”