Read Time: 5 Minutes
Takeaways
- Don Milligan is retiring after 29 years of dedicated service to Huntsman Cancer Institute and University of Utah Health.
- Milligan was instrumental in the programming and design planning of Huntsman Cancer Institute in Vineyard.
Impact: Milligan’s leadership will continue to shape cancer care through the people, culture, and facilities he helped build.
After 29 years of dedicated service to Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah (the U), Don Milligan, MBA, chief administrative officer of the Cancer Hospital at Huntsman Cancer Institute and University of Utah Health, is retiring, leaving behind a legacy defined by patient-centered leadership, operational excellence, and an unwavering commitment to compassionate cancer care.
Since joining Huntsman Cancer Institute in 1997, just two years after it was formally established, Milligan has held various administrative leadership positions in which he played a pivotal role in shaping the institute’s clinical operations and physical footprint. Over nearly three decades, his steady leadership helped guide Huntsman Cancer Institute through periods of significant growth and transformation, always with patients and families at the center.
A Lasting Footprint
“Don’s impact has been profound and will be long-lasting, not just on Huntsman Cancer Institute, but across the health system and on all of the people that he has touched over the many years he has been here,” says Bradley Cairns, PhD, CEO of Huntsman Cancer Institute. “He is a leader who has paired operational excellence with strategy and mission-driven purpose. His influence is now a part of the foundation of Huntsman Cancer Institute upon which others will continue to build.”
In January 2020, Milligan was appointed executive director of the Cancer Hospital at Huntsman Cancer Institute and University of Utah Health, later named chief administrative officer. In this position, he oversaw all operational aspects of the cancer hospital, including leadership of the programming and design planning for a major expansion, the Kathryn F. Kirk Center for Comprehensive Cancer Care and Women’s Cancers, which opened to patients in 2023.
Milligan has also been instrumental in the programming and design planning of Huntsman Cancer Institute in Vineyard, which is scheduled to open summer 2028. Designed to bring cancer care closer to home for patients in central and southern portions of the state and beyond, the campus is expected to save patients more than two hours of travel time per visit, or an estimated million miles per year. That focus mirrors Milligan’s long‑standing commitment to designing care around the real needs of patients and families.
Putting People First
Milligan has shared that on particularly challenging days, he would step away from his office and sit in a patient waiting room to reflect on what patients and families were experiencing before returning to work grounded in purpose.
“Don has been a leader, pioneer, strategist, and a visionary and someone who always kept patients’ needs in the foreground,” says Mary Beckerle, PhD, CEO emerita of Huntsman Cancer Institute and member of the Huntsman Cancer Foundation Board of Directors. “At the heart of Don’s work is his incredible dedication and commitment to our patients and their families, the compassion for what they are going through, and his desire to make a difference. That compassion is his true north.”
That same compassion for patients and families extended to the teams Milligan led.
“When I walk through the hospital with Don, what I see is the staff coming up and giving him hugs and saying, ‘Don, I love you,’” says Dan Lundergan, MHA, system chief operating officer for University of Utah Health and CEO of University of Utah Health Hospitals and Clinics. “Seeing that type of exchange of affection, deep respect, and trust is inspiring. I appreciate Don for creating that environment and his ability to create relationships as a leader.”
Milligan’s impact across Huntsman Cancer Institute and University of Utah Health is reflected in the strength and quality of clinical cancer programs across the health system.
“Don’s dedication, hard work, focus on our patients, teams, and community is outstanding,” says Gina Hawley, DrPH, chief operating officer for University of Utah Health Hospitals and Clinics and system associate chief operating officer. “Operational excellence stems from having amazing leaders like him at the helm.”
That excellence extends beyond clinical programs to those delivering care throughout the system.
“What a massive impact Don has made on this institution and this university, and it's amazing what one person can do,” Sachin Apte, MD, MBA, MS, chief clinical officer and physician-in-chief at Huntsman Cancer Institute and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the U, says. “He leads by example, not just making us better at our jobs, but better in terms of how we live our lives.”
A Lifelong Race
An avid trail runner, Milligan brought the same endurance, focus, and discipline to his work as he did to his running. Those qualities carried him through a 29‑year “race” defined by service and steady progress, even as he continued setting ambitious new goals for the institution.
As he steps into retirement, Milligan looks forward to spending more time with his wife, Kathy, their children, and grandchildren. He reflects with gratitude on the work he was privileged to do and the people he served alongside.
“What motivated me every day were the patients we see, over 1,000 patients a day, and the wonderful doctors, nurses, staff, and researchers who support these patients and care for them”
“What an amazing opportunity it has been to bless the people that trust their care to Huntsman Cancer Institute.”
Though he is retiring, Milligan’s legacy at Huntsman Cancer Institute will continue. At an early May retirement celebration, Michael Delzotti, FAHP, CFRE, president and chief operating officer of Huntsman Cancer Foundation, announced on behalf of the Huntsman Cancer Foundation Board of Directors that the central conference room in the main lobby of Huntsman Cancer Institute in Vineyard will be named the “Don Milligan Conference Room.”
In reading the proclamation, Delzotti noted that Milligan’s “enduring legacy is reflected not only in institutional achievements, but also in the countless lives touched, future leaders mentored, and the standards of excellence indelibly set for generations to come.”
Designed as a place where collaboration, strategy, and decisions continue in the “race” against cancer, the Don Milligan Conference Room will stand as a lasting testament to the foundation he helped build and the work that carries on because of it.
