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DUARTE, Calif., October 16, 2012 — City of Hope received a $1 million gift to establish the Dr. Norman & Melinda Payson Professorship in Medicine, which will support the office of the institution’s chief medical officer, Alexandra Levine, M.D., M.A.C.P.
Norman Payson, M.D., is a member of City of Hope’s board of directors and chair of the City of Hope Medical Foundation board. He and his wife, Melinda, have supported numerous City of Hope programs through their private foundation.
“We are excited to be able to support the work of Dr. Levine and the office of the chief medical officer,” Norman Payson said. “She is committed to making sure that patients get high-quality care, and she exemplifies compassion and kindness every day. This compassion is what City of Hope is known for, and it’s important that we ensure it remains a hallmark of this special place.”
Levine is an internationally recognized expert in lymphoma, Hodgkin disease and AIDS-related malignancies. In 1995, Bill Clinton appointed her to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS; she also chaired the council’s research committee. As City of Hope’s chief medical officer, Levine oversees all clinical and hospital care programs, including quality, patient safety, clinical research, clinical information management and professional education.
She praised the couple for their longstanding generosity to City of Hope. “The Paysons believe in City of Hope — they believe in our physicians and staff, and they clearly understand the culture of caring and expertise that has been the cornerstone of our success for almost 100 years. We are truly fortunate to have Dr. and Mrs. Payson as our partners, and I am most grateful for this exceptional gift,” she said.
Norman Payson is chief executive officer (CEO) of Apria Healthcare Group, which focuses on home health services and equipment. He previously was chairman and CEO of Oxford Health Plans Inc., a leading provider of health benefit plans, and dynamically transformed the company during his 14 years of leadership. Earlier, he co-founded and served as CEO of Healthsource Inc. During his tenure, Healthsource became one of the nation’s largest health plan companies. Payson was the CEO of a 120-member physician group, with more than 100,000 health plan members, before helping to establishing Healthsource.
He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received his medical degree from Dartmouth Medical School. He practiced medicine as a board-certified family physician until 1982 and previously served in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps on a Native American reservation in Arizona.
Melinda Payson is a Los Angeles native who graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and a master’s in education. She taught at the high school and college levels in dance and women’s athletics.
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About City of Hope
City of Hope is a leading research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases. Designated as a comprehensive cancer center, the highest recognition bestowed by the National Cancer Institute, City of Hope is also a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, with research and treatment protocols that advance care throughout the nation. City of Hope’s main hospital is located in Duarte, Calif., just northeast of Los Angeles, with clinics in Antelope Valley and South Pasadena. It is ranked as one of "America's Best Hospitals" in cancer by U.S.News & World Report. Founded in 1913, City of Hope is a pioneer in the fields of bone marrow transplantation and genetics. For more information, visit www.cityofhope.org or follow City of Hope on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Breakthroughs blog or Flickr. |
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