San Francisco General, UCSF to Receive $10M Avon Foundation Grant for Breast Cancer Research
San Francisco General Hospital and the University of California-San Francisco today will receive a $10 million grant from the Avon Products Foundation to fund breast cancer research and to establish a "state-of-the-art" Women's Imaging Center at the hospital, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. New digital mammography equipment and a "portable building" are expected to be in place by next fall. The Chronicle reports the current wait for a mammogram appointment at the public hospital is 127 days, a delay that may discourage some women from scheduling an appointment. With the new equipment, San Francisco General hopes to "dramatically reduce" the wait time and to increase the number of low-income women who get mammograms at the hospital each year from 4,800 to 9,600. Susan Jacobson, executive director for the San Francisco General Foundation, said, "We'd like to get [the wait] down to less than 30 days." The Chronicle reports that San Francisco General and its affiliated clinics serve about 15,000 women over the age of 50 who could benefit from the "expanded mammography services" (Russell, San Francisco Chronicle, 10/9).
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