A mainstay in Kansas City women’s health was recently honored by the Royals ahead of his final few weeks of work.
Dr. Mark Malley, co-founder of Imaging for Women, the city’s first women’s imaging center, sat in the Buck O’Neil Seat at a Royals game at Kauffman Stadium on May 25. He was nominated by someone outside of the center ahead of his pending retirement June 30.
“I was kind of shocked,” Malley recently said of the honor. “It was certainly a great honor. Our whole motto here is that we’ll take care of you. Over the 20 some years we’ve been doing this we’ve found a lot of breast cancers and we’ve saved a lot of women’s lives. We try to be compassionate in what we do and that’s just an important part of life … just being a member of the community to reach out to other people and make an impact.”
Malley, who has performed more than 700,000 procedures according to the center, is trying to enjoy his final days in the clinic he founded with Phyllis Fulk in 1997.
“It’s nice to be honored and for our organization to be honored, but it’s just a recognition that I’ve made a difference,” Malley said. “I appreciate that, but I don’t need that.”
Imaging for Women is the first center in the world to have the updated Automated Breast Ultrasound 2.0 technology to use on women with dense breast tissue, according to a press release.
The center is also known for helping patients afford the care they need. The center has provided around $4 million in free healthcare to patients, Fulk, who is a Farley resident, said.
“We’ve always had a focus on taking care of people in the community,” Malley said. “We’ve made a real effort to partner with organizations that encourage people to get the healthcare that they need and the services they need. And we’ve done everything we can to be able to provide that.”
Fulk will work to carry on the legacy along with Drs. Troy Voeltz and Allison Howard Zupon at Imaging for Women, located at 169 Highway and Englewood Road. The center pioneered the approach of same-day patient work-up for women with breast problems, according to the release.
“I’ve known the day was going to come when Dr. Malley would retire,” Fulk said. “His family has certainly allowed him to give a lot to women in the community and have made sacrifices, too. This is a time for him to give back to his family. I’ve watched him work from 6:30 in the morning to 7 o’clock at night with maybe a 20-minute break for lunch because people needed him here. He is due to his retirement, but I’ll miss him greatly.
“He’s such a good mentor to other physicians, to other staff, to patients that he talks with, and certainly a great mentor to me over the last 30 some years we’ve worked together,” she added. “He has such a Christian heart in dealing with people and he treats every patient as if they were his family members. He may be retiring but Imaging for Women is continuing to grow with the same core values.”
Malley will have an eye on the center during retirement, but he’s confident that it’s in good hands.
“I’m handing it off to people who share my core values and so I’m really not worried,” he said. “I’ve worked with them both (Voeltz and Howard Zupon) and I know who they are and they’ll continue the same thought process and service orientation. I see it daily. They really care about people and keep costs down and do the right thing for the patient.”