ARMC Foundation Receives $1M Towards Trauma Services

Arrowhead Regional Medical Center's Dev. A GnanaDev, M.D., has donated $1 million to the ARMC Foundation, supporting improved health and wellness for the residents of San Bernardino County.

Colton, CA - Dr. GnanaDev, who has dedicated his more than 40 years as a surgeon and health care leader to improving the health and wellness of the less-fortunate throughout the local community, has made a $1 million donation to the ARMC Foundation, the fundraising arm of the hospital, which is governed by the Board of Supervisors.

“Dr. GnanaDev’s donation matches the previously largest-ever donation to the ARMC Foundation. That donation was given in 2007 by Ed Hirschman, my late husband, who was the longtime director of pharmacy at ARMC,” said Anne Cress, now the chair of the ARMC Foundation Board. “It is wonderful to see this philanthropic tradition continue what he started.”

Dr. GnanaDev, an accomplished surgeon and health care leader, built a successful career as a business owner and entrepreneur. He is president and CEO of his own surgical provider group, which he grew from two surgeons to approximately 20 today. He is also owner and operator of a multi-specialty surgery center and has been involved in the development of technology firms based in California and in his native India.

Dr. GnanaDev is on the board of directors of two technology firms based in the Silicon Valley and in Hyderabad, India. Further, he continues to be an angel investor in startup technology firms. One of the companies he invested in at the startup stage was acquired by a private equity group with significant return on capital. He decided to donate a portion of that return to the ARMC Foundation.

“On behalf of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, I would like to thank Dr. GnanaDev for his generous contribution to the ARMC Foundation,” said Board of Supervisors Chair Dawn Rowe. “ARMC provides top-notch health care to patients throughout the region.”

A resident of the Inland Empire since 1980 when he joined the medical staff at the old San Bernardino County Medical Center (now ARMC), Dr. GnanaDev is grateful for the professional opportunities he’s received throughout his career as a county hospital-based physician and health care educator, and he felt it was time to give back. He is passionate about ARMC and was involved in getting the hospital built in Colton.

“ARMC is in my heart,” said Dr. GnanaDev, chairman of the Department of Surgery at ARMC since 1989 and the hospital’s medical director from 2000–2012. “This hospital and this community have been so good to me all these years, and I felt this was something I could do to help support the needs of the medical center.”

Dr. GnanaDev’s donation will be earmarked for the ARMC Trauma Center and surgery services. A general, vascular and trauma surgeon, Dr. GnanaDev was instrumental in the development and growth of the trauma center at ARMC. In 1982, he became the founding director of trauma services at the old county medical center and worked with the Inland Counties Emergency Medical Agency (ICEMA) to create a dedicated trauma center. He served as the director of trauma continuously until June of 2000, when he became ARMC’s medical director.

“The ARMC Foundation is very grateful to Dr. GnanaDev and his wife Rose for their continued generous support of the ARMC Foundation over many years,” said Patty Holohan, executive director of the ARMC Foundation.

Today, the ARMC Trauma Center is one of the busiest in California, with an annual patient volume of more than 3,000. It is one of just two trauma centers in San Bernardino County and provides treatment to patients with critical, often life-threatening injuries requiring multidisciplinary, comprehensive emergency medical services.

A longtime health care educator, Dr. GnanaDev in 2012 had an idea to start a medical school in the local area to increase the critically low number of available medical school slots for California residents. In what he called one of the proudest moments of his professional career, Dr. GnanaDev, serving as founding president, assembled the faculty that earned accreditation in 2018 for the California University of Science and Medicine, an allopathic medical school located adjacent to the ARMC campus in Colton.

About Arrowhead Regional Medical Center

Arrowhead Regional Medical Center is a 456-bed university-affiliated teaching hospital licensed by the State of California Department of Public Health, operated by San Bernardino County, and governed by the Board of Supervisors. It is ARMC’s mission, in an environment of learning and innovation, to serve our diverse community with high-quality, compassionate care. The hospital, located on a 70-acre campus in Colton, California, operates the Edward G. Hirschman Burn Center, a level I trauma center, a comprehensive stroke center, a behavioral health center, and five primary care centers. ARMC also provides more than 40 outpatient specialty care services. ARMC is helping to achieve the countywide vision by addressing the community’s wellness and educational needs. ARMC is the primary teaching hospital for the California University of Science and Medicine (CUSM). The University welcomed its first class of students in 2018. For more information on CUSM, visit https://www.cusm.org. For more information about ARMC, visit https://www.arrowheadregional.org.