Rady Children's Health

Rady Children's Health

Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego was established in 1954 and today operates as the region's only dedicated pediatric trauma center and a teaching affiliate of the UC San Diego School of Medicine. Its financial heft traces to Ernest Rady, founder of the NYSE-listed American Assets Trust, whose sustained philanthropy placed his family's name on the institution and seeded a substantial, long-duration investment pool. In January 2025, the hospital merged with Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) to form the unified Rady Children's Health system. The endowment's asset mix spans venture capital, buyouts, direct secondaries, distressed debt and special situations, covering seed through late-stage and growth-equity exposure. This portfolio functions alongside an on-balance-sheet real estate footprint that includes the 3020 Children's Way main campus, the Acute Care Pavilion and a 9575 Aero Drive industrial property in Kearny Mesa. Operating subsidiaries include the CHET critical-care transport fleet and a fleet of ground ambulances. The system also accepts cryptocurrency donations through a dedicated giving vehicle. The investment committee is chaired by Harry Rady, CEO of Rady Asset Management and a member of the founding family, who oversees the endowment's multi-manager and direct investment program. The enterprise employs more than 30 medical specialties across San Diego and southern Riverside counties. In early 2026, co-president and CEO Patrick Frias announced his departure to lead Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, marking a leadership transition for the combined Rady-CHOC entity. The hospital's main campus spans two commercial buildings plus a medical office building, while the Rady Children's Hospital Foundation maintains a parallel philanthropic infrastructure. Unlike most nonprofit hospital endowments — which often outsource asset management to a single OCIO or hold a plain-vanilla 60/40 portfolio — Rady Children's Health deploys a family-office-like direct-investing function chaired by a member of the founding family. This hybrid structure merges a charitable mission with a multi-strategy capital deployment model more typical of a sophisticated single-family office, producing a balance-sheet sophistication that distinguishes it from peer pediatric institutions.