St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital to Receive New Name in 2030 Following Record-Breaking Donation
A generous $50 million donation from a Tampa Bay family is set to pave the way for a new hospital to replace St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital by 2030, marking one of the largest philanthropic contributions in the region’s history, according to BayCare Health System.
The significant gift comes from Sidd Pagidipati, a prominent Tampa entrepreneur who co-founded a Medicare Advantage HMO alongside his father and launched the Tampa-based medical provider Better Health Group. Joining in this remarkable gesture are Sidd’s brother, Rahul Pagidipati, and sister, Srujani Pagidipati.
The upcoming hospital will serve as a successor to the existing 219-bed children’s facility, established in 1990 and situated on the Tampa campus along West Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, adjacent to St. Joseph’s Hospital. In 2022 alone, the hospital handled nearly 35,000 emergency room visits, 13,000 births, and approximately 4,900 outpatient surgeries.
In recognition of the transformative donation, the new hospital will be christened as the Pagidipati Children’s Hospital at St. Joseph’s. This naming honors the Pagidipati family’s extraordinary generosity and underscores their commitment to advancing pediatric healthcare. The hospital’s expansion will facilitate the provision of a broader range of pediatric specialty medical services and enable BayCare to enhance its pediatric graduate medical education programs, encompassing teaching, research, and training initiatives. Although the exact cost of the new facility has yet to be disclosed by the nonprofit organization, BayCare operates 17 hospitals throughout the Tampa Bay region.
BayCare President and CEO Stephanie Conners expressed gratitude for the Pagidipati family’s profound impact, emphasizing the hospital’s mission to provide child-centric, family-centered care of the utmost quality. She remarked that the Pagidipati Children’s Hospital at St. Joseph’s will be celebrated nationally as a premier destination for pediatric healthcare.
The heartfelt donation pays homage to the Pagidipati family’s parents, Devaiah Pagidipati, a retired pediatric anesthesiologist trained at Harvard, and Rudrama Pagidipati, a retired pathologist. Additionally, the contribution coincides with the couple’s golden wedding anniversary and the 50th anniversary of their emigration to the United States, further underscoring the deep significance of this act of philanthropy.
