As a breast cancer survivor, Barbara Kort knows first hand about the importance of a calm and peaceful treatment center.
With her recent donation to the Santa Monica- UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital, she said she hopes to give that gift to other women battling the disease.
The Women’s Imaging Center at the hospital was renamed after Kort on Monday in recognition of a seven-figure gift made by the Barbara and Fred Kort Foundation. The foundation supports breast cancer research as one of its main focuses.
“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.
The center is known for its all-digital mammography and breast ultrasound studies in a spa-like environment. Kort’s gift will improve and expand current breast cancer services and technologies, such as a digital, three-dimensional mammography called tomosynthesis, which allows doctors to peer through breast tissue one layer at a time. This increases the number of cancers detected and lessens the need for women to get additional testing after the initial screening.
The Kort Foundation also gave a donation to Dr. Helena Chang’s breast cancer research. Chang has been Kort’s doctor for the past 10 years.
“Not only is Dr. Chang an extraordinarily talented physician and researcher, she also is an extremely caring individual,” Kort said. “I am very proud to be one of her patients.”
Officials with the hospital would not disclose the exact amount of the donations made.
