Rachel Petrucelli, President, UPMC Children’s Hospital Foundation
In the Pittsburgh region, UPMC Children’s Hospital is hard at work looking after the children in the community and those travelling here from around the world for expert care, while also focusing on research and other ways to support families. In an interview with Invest:, UPMC Children’s Hospital Foundation President Rachel Petrucelli highlighted the role philanthropy has in meeting funding gaps and the importance of working with the local community to better serve the children that need medical care.
What key changes have most impacted your operations in the past year?
We are extremely excited about the launch of our comprehensive fundraising campaign This Moment: Put a Child’s Future First, focused on transforming pediatric health care across four pillars: clinical excellence, research, patient experience, and community health. It is the most ambitious campaign in UPMC Children’s Hospital’s history with a goal of $200 million. It has been a pleasure working with the community and having them be part of this campaign so we can invest in the future of children’s health and the future of our society, not only affecting the Pittsburgh region but affecting healthcare for children globally. With just under six months to go, our focus is to bring this campaign over the finish line. I feel very fortunate to lead a phenomenal organization of professionals that are focused on supporting the mission of a world class children’s hospital.
We are the only children’s hospital in Western Pennsylvania. We have a longstanding tradition of meeting the care of children in this region for more than 140 years. Our responsibility and extension of care is across the whole footprint and covering parts of Maryland and parts of New York. We are able to provide a margin of excellence, while enabling innovation and accelerating advancements in research. We complement medical care through supporting programs and services that cover the whole child and family, all while breaking down the barriers that families face in accessing care.
What key trends are you following closely in relation to pediatric healthcare and philanthropy?
A primary area is funding for research. Funding for research has primarily relied on government funding by way of the National Institutes of Health. Securing this funding has always been competitive and uncertain. Approximately 12% of pediatric research is funded by the government, while children make up approximately 22% of the population and are 100% of our future. Philanthropy is critical to help ensure that good ideas do not sit on the shelf. Philanthropy is essential as a complement to other sources of grants for research and this is becoming more pronounced than ever.
The rising need for behavioral health services is an area of focus for many children’s hospitals across the nation, UPMC Children’s included. Compared to reimbursements for physical health, mental health reimbursement rates provide a fraction of the real cost of care. Philanthropy is able to help address gaps in the continuum of care and complement the services that already exist. Ideally, we want to be able to support children before they develop very significant issues, and we want to be able to help them through any crisis they may encounter. A lot of times mental health issues are triggered in combination with other medical conditions. Chronic or life-threatening diseases turn up a host of mental health issues. To address that we have been focused on embedding behavioral health services in our clinics so that families can access that care easily and conveniently, while helping reduce stigma. This is one example of how we draw on philanthropic dollars to cover the gaps so we are able to offer the kind of care that children need, when they need it and where they need it.
What key partnerships with the community help drive the foundation’s mission forward?
Our foundation has benefited from a rich history of strong community support from individuals, corporations, and foundations throughout and beyond Pittsburgh. This deep engagement indicates that people — whether they have directly utilized the services of UPMC Children’s or not — are aware of and grateful for the expert pediatric health care available right here in Pittsburgh. We engage with community partners in a variety of ways. We know that their interests are not one-size-fits-all, and we want to understand how our mission resonates. In the case of business partnerships, we seek to understand the interests of their employee base, their customers and their corporate values. We are blessed by being such a beloved and treasured asset in our community so that we can appeal to a variety of organizations who are philanthropically minded and want to figure out how to make a difference. For example, we partner with businesses that have had a long-standing tradition of supporting our Free Care Fund. Our doors are open to all children, regardless of the family’s ability to pay, and the Free Care Fund has been a mechanism in place for more than 70 years that allows us to fulfill that promise.
What is a recent success for your organization and what impact does it have?
Construction is currently underway for our hospital’s brand new Heart Institute, a vision that was made possible with the help of our generous donor community. This state-of-the-art facility will open to children and families in 2026, and it will match the expertise for which our team is renowned. The 50,000-square-foot, three-story building on our hospital’s main campus in Lawrenceville is designed with children and families in mind. The new Heart Institute will advance patient care by unifying all of the services that heart patients could need under one roof; offering inviting spaces filled with light and warmth; and equipping our heart team with innovative spaces and technologies to enhance care delivery. For example, the new Outpatient Ambulatory Clinic will allow our providers to see more patients than ever before. Additionally, a Cardiac Rehab Unit and Exercise Lab will empower our team to help children with their physical recovery, build confidence in their abilities, and promote the active lifestyle that will yield optimal outcomes. The new Heart Institute will also feature reduced-radiation heart catheterization labs and an MRI suite for both inpatient and outpatient procedures, offering a combination of catheterization and imaging technology that is available at only a few hospitals in the country. Since the project was initially planned, our patient volume has increased by 25%, and the vision for the Heart Institute has actually expanded to meet that growing demand. We have made incredible progress toward our ambitious fundraising goal thanks to our donors. So many generous individuals and businesses in our community recognize the life-changing impact this facility will have on kids and families, and their support is making it happen. The Foundation is honored to be able to rally our community together in support of the new Heart Institute.
What are your priorities and goals for the near future?
Our current campaign aims to achieve several goals, including the construction of a new Heart Institute set to open next spring, continued investment in research, expansion of behavioral health services, and support for community health initiatives. While these are our immediate priorities, our work extends beyond the completion of this campaign. We are actively collaborating with the hospital to identify future priorities. Philanthropy can play a crucial role in helping the hospital address its evolving needs. As we look to the future, research will remain a key focus, as we must continue advocating for the necessary resources to invest in innovations and cures. Behavioral health is another critical area where we’ve identified opportunities to bridge gaps in the continuum of care and enhance existing services. We are committed to partnering with the hospital to invest in these vital projects, ensuring we are there for every child and family, whenever they need us.
