Jacksonville, Fla. – Lexus of Jacksonville and the RITA foundation will present a $50,000 check to Shands Jacksonville at 10 a.m. in the Breast Health Center at Shands Jacksonville, Tower II, 4th floor.
The funds were raised through an Oct. 15 golf tournament at the Hidden Hills Country Club and will go toward the purchase of a positive emission tomography (PET) breast imager to be located on the Shands Jacksonville campus. Lexus of Jacksonville Champions for Charity golf tournament partnered with RITA Foundation (Research is the Answer) to help raise funds for leading breast cancer detection technology for the Jacksonville campus of University of Florida Shands Cancer Center.
“The PET imager will be a tremendous asset to our breast cancer detection resources her at Shands Jacksonville and to women on the First Coast,” said Susan Snodgrass, M.D., a UF associate professor of radiology and director of breast health imaging.
The state-of-the-art imager, which will be only the second installed in the nation, can detect as few as 10 cancer cells and will be used for small imaging applications as well as the diagnosis and surgical planning of breast cancer.
RITA, founded in 1996, is a volunteer organization whose proceeds support breast cancer research and patient-related breast cancer programs. To date, RITA has contributed over $500,000 to the local community.