FIU art auction to fund mammograms for women in South Florida


Robb Guido, a second-year medical student at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, was 10 when he saw a news report on the importance of mammograms. He went to the two women in his family – his mom, Nancy, and his aunt, Mary Lo Truglio – and pestered them until they had the test done.

“The following week, they discovered cancer in aunt Mary’s mammogram, and she had the surgery four days later,” said Nancy Guido. This year Truglio will celebrate her 94th birthday.

Now Robb Guido and fellow students in the FIU Radiology Interest Group have a new mission to improve access to mammograms. The project is called the Mammography aRt Initiative (MRI), an art exhibit and silent auction designed to raise money to pay for mammograms for at least 80 low-income women in Miami-Dade County.

“I always thought mammograms were very important, and now I’m in a position to influence others,” he said. “I guess you can say I have had a lifelong interest in radiology.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women of all races, making it the second leading cause of cancer death in women.

The Mammography aRt Initiative kicks off on Saturday, Sept. 29, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum.  The event is free.

The theme for this inaugural MRI exhibit is “Radiology Meets Art.” Artist Pedro Jermaine used images from CT scans, x-rays, MRIs and ultrasounds to create works of art. Local radiologist Dr. Gamaliel Herrera is also contributing artwork for the show. The exhibit will feature the winners of an undergraduate student art contest titled “Breast Cancer Can Hide in Anyone.”

Guests at the auction will include breast cancer survivors from The Beautiful Gate Cancer Support Center, and Dr. Carolyn D. Runowicz, Executive Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the College of Medicine at FIU. Runowicz, a breast cancer survivor, is an internationally recognized leader in women’s health and gynecologic cancer whose research focuses on the development, initiation, and implementation of clinical trials and cancer prevention.

“Medically underserved women have a higher percentage of late detection,” said Guido. “Early diagnosis, through mammographic screening provided by this art show will hopefully help increase the breast cancer survival rates of our local women.”