A woman will be honored in Santa Monica this month as a local hero for her fight against breast cancer.
As part of the Seventh Annual Ultimate Drive for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Gloria Gebbia, president of the Associates for Breast and Prostate Cancer Studies, Inc., will be presented with the local hero award in recognition of her efforts to raise funds for breast cancer research at the John Wayne Cancer Institute.
Betty Rodriguez, executive director of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Los Angeles and Dr. Donald L. Morton, medical director and surgeon-in-chief at JWCI, will present the award to Gebbia. As a committed volunteer of the Calabasas community, Gebbia also resides on the Board of Hospice in the valley, is president of the Smiles Brigade at Maryvale, and is a member of the President’s Club of the Thalians.
In 2002, JWCI was one of only five institutions in the country to be awarded a grant from the Susan G. Komen Foundation, establishing the Komen Interdisciplinary Breast Fellowship Program at JWCI’s Joyce Eisenberg Keefer Breast Center. The center designed to train medical professionals, including surgeons, radiologists and medical oncologists about the complexities of breast health and cancer. The program is currently funded through 2006.
In 2003, an estimated 211,300 new cases of breast cancer will occur among women in the U.S., with approximately 40,200 deaths. It is estimated that 1,300 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. In 2002, there were 400 men who died from the disease. Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women ages 40-59.
The event, which is open to the public, will take place at the Santa Monica BMW Dealership on Thursday, Oct. 23.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 14, 2003. Read the original PDF.