Keck opens new offices in Pasadena

The Keck Medical Center of USC opened a new medical office in Pasadena, Calif., making the facility USC’s largest specialty physician office outside of the Health Sciences Campus in East Los Angeles.

Members of the Trojan Family, physicians and the mayor of Pasadena celebrated the opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, reception and tours of the office Tuesday.

The 22,000-square-foot center will house more than 40 USC faculty physicians, who represent more than 15 specialties, including ophthalmology, oncology, neurology, surgery services and cardiovascular services, said Scott Evans, chief operating officer and interim chief executive officer of Keck Hospital of USC and USC Norris Cancer Hospital.

“It was always our hope that we could bring a real, world-class academic center into the communities where our patients live and work,” Evans said.

Two licensed hospitals serve the center, including the Keck Hospital of USC on the west side and the Norris Cancer Hospital on the east side, which Evans said provides a great opportunity to bring comprehensive, well-respected cancer care to more patients.

“We’re a tertiary provider of cancer care, which means we see the sickest of the sick and the toughest of the tough cases, but more often than not, we’d like to do that in the comfort of one’s community if possible,” Evans said. “We have a large patient base that comes from Pasadena already, so this is really going to serve as a convenient place for them.”

At its peak, the center is capable of serving about 400 patients a day, Evans said. An on-site infusion center, including a pharmacy and laboratory, is available to patients, in addition to discounted on-site parking.

Tom Jackiewicz, senior vice president and chief executive officer of USC Health, said the new center exemplifies the goal of Keck Medical Center to expand its high-quality, advanced care beyond the Health Sciences Campus.

“This space is absolutely fantastic,” Jackiewicz said. “I mean this really shows what we can do as an organization, and this is the kind of state-of-the-art clinical space that our organization needs and deserves. It also represents the expansion and growth and dedication to create a network of care throughout the entire region.”

Pasadena has a population of about 140,000 people, and employs about 100,000, said Mayor Bill Bogaard. The services available at the new center will benefit the city and people in many important ways, he said.

“It gives us the bragging rights about the quality of services that are available in Pasadena,” said Bogaard, who has served as Pasadena’s mayor since 1999. “It’s a matter of offering quality services to the people of this region, and it strengthens Pasadena as an economic enterprise.”

Bogaard said he is proud to have USC Keck physicians in Pasadena and will provide his services to smooth their transition to the city.

“I am grateful to the USC Keck School, to the physicians who have come here and will be practicing,” Bogaard said. “I hope that everything that can be done to facilitate that transition of the doctors and to make this comfortable move for them and for their patients can be accomplished with the help from City Hall.”

The new Pasadena center is USC’s fourth satellite office in the region, and is located at the Huntington Pavilion on the fourth floor of 625 S. Fair Oaks Ave., Ste. 400 in Pasadena. USC physicians also practice at medical centers in La Cañada Flintridge, Beverly Hills and Downtown Los Angeles.