FOR RELEASE: Aug. 11, 2006
GALVESTON, Texas — The Dr. Leon Bromberg Charitable Trust Fund has made a $100,000 commitment to a breast imaging fellowship program at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston that will train radiologists to detect and treat breast cancer sooner.
UTMB launched a $1 million initiative in late 2004 to create the fellowship program. To date, nearly $900,000 has been raised. The program will allow one radiologist to serve a one-year fellowship for breast cancer screening and diagnosis training. Fellowships will be awarded annually. Radiology is a branch of medicine that uses high-energy radiation, such as X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging, to diagnose and treat disease. Candidates for the fellowship will be radiologists who have completed their residency training. The breast imaging fellows will practice using various imaging tools, including mammography, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging, as well as perform interventional procedures like minimally invasive breast biopsies.
Dr. Valerie M. Parisi, dean of UTMB’s School of Medicine, said the Bromberg Charitable Trust Fund’s commitment will have far-reaching effects on women’s health. “The Bromberg Charitable Trust Fund’s contribution to the Breast Imaging Fellowship Program will benefit countless Texas women who will be treated by radiologists participating in our fellowship program,” she said. “We appreciate the trust’s commitment to women’s health care.” Parisi, the Thomas N. and Gleaves T. James Distinguished Chair, serves as UTMB’s chief academic officer and vice president for academic program administration and services.
Because almost all breast cancer may be successfully treated if detected early, sophisticated imaging technologies — and the health care professionals who operate them — are essential for lowering the cancer’s death rate. Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. According to the American Cancer Society, nearly 213,000 women are expected to develop invasive breast cancer in 2006, with an estimated 41,000 deaths attributed to the disease. The Texas Cancer Registry reports that approximately 11,000 new cases of invasive female breast cancer are recorded annually, and more than 2,400 women die as a result.
Dr. Tuenchit Khamapirad, associate professor of radiology and director of breast imaging at UTMB, thanked the Bromberg Charitable Trust Fund for helping the university come significantly closer to reaching the breast imaging fellowship campaign goal. “It’s caring organizations of the Galveston community, like the Dr. Leon Bromberg Charitable Trust Fund, that help UTMB increase its level of service to the population,” Khamapirad said. “We’re extremely fortunate to count the foundation among our circle of friends.”
Dr. Leonard E. Swischuk, professor and chair of the university’s Radiology Department, said, “Our nation is currently experiencing a shortage of specially trained radiologists. A growing elderly population and limited number of training programs at academic health centers have contributed to this scarcity of health care specialists. The Bromberg Charitable Trust Fund is helping us educate the personnel who are essential in the never-ending effort to detect and treat breast cancer as quickly as possible.”
A major UTMB supporter, the Bromberg Charitable Trust Fund has contributed to the university since 1999. Foundation gifts have helped establish two endowed professorships, and supported the nursing student scholarship fund. The organization also helped create the Bromberg Scholars Endowment, which provides supplementary stipends to mentors who work with juniors and seniors from Galveston’s Ball High School enrolled in UTMB’s Bench Tutorials Programs. Participants earn high school science credit by conducting biomedical research under the supervision of UTMB graduate students, faculty or postdoctoral fellows.
The Bromberg Charitable Trust Fund has a primary mission of supporting medical and educational institutions. It was created by the will of Dr. Leon Bromberg, assistant professor of clinical medicine at UTMB from 1955 to 1969. Born on Galveston Island in 1899, he graduated from Ball High School with honors in 1916 and received his bachelor’s degree with honors in 1920 from the Rice Institute in Houston. Bromberg attended Vanderbilt University’s College of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn., where he earned his doctorate in medicine in 1924. He had a distinguished career as a teacher and physician in St. Louis, Mo., and as a captain in the medical corps of the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war, he returned to St. Louis to continue his practice and teaching before moving back to Galveston in 1955. Bromberg died in 1985.
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