Mount Sinai launches mobile MRI unit with $3.8M gift, bringing prostate cancer care to Black communities
Mount Sinai Health System in New York City has received a multi-million dollar gift to launch its mobile MRI program supporting prostate health in underserved communities, the healthcare giant announced Wednesday.
Philanthropist and founder of Vista Equity Partners Robert F. Smith presented the $3.8 award to Mount Sinai’s Department of Urology. One of the organization’s foremost prostate cancer experts will head up the mobile MRI unit, which sprung from the fact that Black Americans are more than twice as likely to die from prostate cancer than other men, according to the American Cancer Society.
“The idea for the Robert F. Smith Mobile MRI Unit was in response to a major health problem—the higher incidence and mortality of prostate cancer in Black men, which I not only identified in my own practice and research, but across the country,” Ash Tewari, MD, MBBS, chair of urology at Mount Sinai, said in a Feb. 11 email statement.
Expected to launch in New York City by summer’s end, the project will allow Tewari to partner with local communities and raise prostate cancer awareness and the services offered by the mobile MRI unit.
Additionally, the funding will help set up mobile screening appointments in highly concentrated Black neighborhoods and schedule follow-up visits with Sinai urologists, as necessary.
“It’s unconscionable that in our great country and at this moment of technological breakthrough, Black Americans are still subject to staggeringly worse health outcomes,” Robert F. Smith said Thursday. “We can fix this. I’m grateful to Mount Sinai for being a standout in providing world-class care to all patients, and I’m honored to help their team serve New York City’s communities with early detection and a path to curative treatments.”
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.