The MemorialCare Todd Cancer Institute at Long Beach Memorial and Jonathan Jaques Children Cancer Center at Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach each received $50,000 through generous personal donations made by twelve radiologists who make up the MemorialCare Imaging Physicians group at Long Beach Memorial and Miller Children’s.
“I speak on behalf of the group when I say we wanted to make a generous contribution to our cancer programs,” says Sherief Gamie, M.D., director of nuclear medicine, imaging department chair, Long Beach Memorial and Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach. “The general overwhelming feeling was to find a way to give back to our hospitals, our community and the entire organization.”
The MemorialCare Imaging Physicians group was created last summer and the decision to donate came shortly after. The group is comprised of the following twelve physicians: Sunaya Bakaya, M.D.; Corey Chakarun, M.D.; Ziad Deeb, M.D.; Sherief Gamie, M.D.; Ameera Ismail, M.D.; Mauricio Jimenez, M.D.; Parveen Jonnala, M.D.; Francine Kim, M.D.; Son Nguyen, M.D., medical director, pediatric imaging; Karen Ragland, M.D.; Charles Raker, M.D. and Arnold Rappoport, M.D., medical director, imaging department.
“At least 30 percent of the imaging volume we receive is oncology related,” says Dr. Gamie. “Through our experience, we know how expensive oncology services generally are. To contribute to a program of this nature it had to be a reasonable donation that would be truly helpful – significant enough that it was felt and could provide something useful to the program and to the treatment of its patients.”
In honor of their donation, consultation rooms in the hematology/oncology unit at Miller Children’s and in the new Todd Cancer Pavilion, set to open in July, will be named after the MemorialCare Imaging Physicians group.
Long Beach Memorial and Miller Children’s radiologists are highly trained and licensed in numerous radiological procedures including breast imaging, computed tomography scans, diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, PET/CT, radioimmunotherapy, ultrasound, interventional radiology, interventional oncology and uterine fibroid embolization – a safe and effective alternative to surgery.