Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation Makes History Raising Over $93 Million for Cancer Care at SMH

The Giving Coast

Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation announced Monday that its Leading with Care cancer campaign raised over $93 million to support the Brian D. Jellison Cancer Institute at Sarasota Memorial Health Care System (SMH). The campaign is the largest in the Healthcare Foundation’s 48-year history. SMH’s vision to transform cancer care was born nearly 10 years ago in response to the southwest Florida community’s rapid growth and increase in cancer cases. At the time, 50% of cancer patients were leaving the community for treatment. With a belief that no one should have to leave home for the best cancer care, a plan was developed to create a world-class cancer institute with comprehensive, quality-driven, patient-centered care. As SMH’s philanthropic arm, the Healthcare Foundation launched its cancer fundraising campaign in 2017 with a goal to raise $50 million in five years. In 2020, a $25 million gift was made by the Brian and Sheila Jellison Family Foundation. Beyond advanced care treatments and state-of-the-art facilities, the transformational gift helped create a centralized place to assist patients and families facing the many complex decisions that accompany a cancer diagnosis. Susan Milman, a long-time supporter of SMH, recently helped the foundation reach the campaign’s $93 million mark. Ms. Milman’s $16 million gift will support the third phase in the evolution of the Jellison Cancer Institute, specifically the outpatient cancer pavilion currently under construction and slated to open in late 2025. The building will house an expanded breast health center with the latest diagnostic imaging technology, outpatient surgery, brachytherapy, radiation oncology and infusion, and more. It will be known as the Milman-Kover Cancer Pavilion in honor of her family, Alan K. Milman, Natalie Kover Milman and Morris Milman, and Arthur and Fay Kover. To date, Ms. Milman’s contributions to the Jellison Cancer Institute exceed $21 million. In addition to the new Milman Kover Cancer Pavilion, the Jellison Cancer Institute also includes a radiation oncology center and a new inpatient and surgical oncology tower that opened in 2020 and 2021. The Healthcare Foundation exceeded its goal by raising over $93 million in just six years, while concurrently generating philanthropic support for other important advances in behavioral health, rehabilitation, research and education. For more information, visit smhf.org               

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