UCLA Health System on April 30 renamed the Women’s Imaging Center on its Santa Monica campus the Barbara Kort Women’s Imaging Center in recognition of a generous seven-figure gift made by the Barbara and Fred Kort Foundation.
Attending a reception to acknowledge and personally thank Barbara Kort for her generosity were Dr. A. Eugene Washington, dean, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; Dr. David Feinberg, president, UCLA Health System; and, Dr. Dieter R. Enzmann, chairman, UCLA Department of Radiology.
Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom, Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce President Laurel Rosen and other community and business leaders also attended the event. Mayor Bloom presented a proclamation on behalf of the city.
“I am honored to make this donation to UCLA. As a breast cancer survivor, I have experienced how vital it is to receive care in a setting that’s warm, calm and peaceful,” said Kort. “Because the Barbara Kort Women’s Imaging Center provides state-of-the-art technology in a comfortable, spa-like environment designed exclusively for women, the healing process is greatly enhanced.”
Her foundation’s gift will enable the center to offer improved and expanded services and technologies and continue providing exceptional patient care. For example, the center now will offer digital three-dimensional mammography called tomosynthesis, which permits physicians to look through the breast tissue one layer at a time. This cutting-edge technology increases the number of cancers detected and lessens the need for women to be called back for additional testing after their initial screening exam.
“We are very thankful for The Kort Foundation’s generous gift, which will allow our center to accommodate more patients with excellent care well into the future,” said Dr. Anne Hoyt, director of the Barbara Kort Women’s Imaging Center. “We also are honored by the donation that not only acknowledges the overall excellence of our center, but also recognizes the work of our compassionate, highly-skilled staff.”
The imaging center features the latest technology in a comfortable, serene environment. In addition to all-digital mammography, the center performs breast ultrasound studies, image-guided diagnostic biopsies, breast MRI studies and cardiac imaging. Radiologists, technologists and support personnel who specialize in women’s imaging and enable UCLA to provide its world-class services staff the center.
The Kort Foundation also made a philanthropic gift to support Dr. Helena Chang’s breast-cancer research to develop a biomarker-based predicting model to better identify drug-resistant breast cancers, which are extremely aggressive and more likely to recur and spread than other types of breast cancer, and to develop more effective treatments.
“Throughout the past ten years that I have received treatment from Dr. Chang, I have developed the highest regard for her,” Kort said. “Not only is Dr. Chang an extraordinarily talented physician and researcher, she also is an extremely caring individual. I am very proud to be one of her patients.”
