Iris Cantor

She and her husband, B. Gerald Cantor (1916-1996), established the Foundation in 1978 to support the visual arts as well as medical, educational, and cultural institutions and programs in the United States and abroad. Her passion for advancing women's healthcare has led to the establishment of comprehensive women's health centers on both coasts—at the University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center and at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. While Mrs. Cantor was an enthusiastic partner with her husband in his passion for Rodin, since assuming the leadership of the Foundation in 1996 she has strengthened the Foundation's commitment to medical research and healthcare, especially for women. Iris Cantor's dedication to women's health began when her beloved sister was diagnosed with breast cancer and passed away from the deadly disease. This motivated Mrs. Cantor to fund UCLA Medical Center’s Iris Cantor Center for Breast Imaging. In July 1995, with Mrs. Cantor's continuing support, UCLA opened the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women's Health Center, which implemented her vision of research and education integrated with primary care. Mrs. Cantor has served on the Board of Councilors of the UCLA Foundation. In 1993 she created the Iris Cantor Humanitarian Award which recognizes individuals who have made important contributions to women's health; Hillary Rodham Clinton was the first recipient of the Award. Continuing her commitment to women's healthcare, on the East Coast Mrs. Cantor created the Iris Cantor Women's Health Center as part of the New York Weill Cornell Medical Center. The Center, which celebrated its grand opening in April of 2002, is one of the most comprehensive medical facilities for women in the world. Mrs. Cantor's commitment has ensured that this Center provides what she calls "one-stop-shopping" for women's medical care, fitness and nutrition. Her dream is to prevent women from being treated like "second-class citizens" by the healthcare industry. Although the Iris Cantor Women's Health Center is a recent undertaking, her commitment to New York is long-standing. She has served on the Board of Trustees of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital and as vice chairman of the Lying-In Hospital, where the Cantors provided funds to create the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Ambulatory Surgery Center (for outpatient care) and the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Laboratory for Immunological Research in Diabetes. In 1996, Mrs. Cantor's donation to New York Weill Cornell Medical Center’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology provided it with eleven birthing rooms, two operating rooms and a new waiting room. Mrs. Cantor has been on the Board of Trustees of the Strang Cancer Prevention Center. She established the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Clinical Research Laboratory at the Rogosin Institute. New York University Also in New York, the Cantors provided major support to establish the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Film Center in 1997 at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. This Center provides the students and community with state-of-the-art lecture halls and screening facilities. In 2004 Mrs. Cantor encouraged the Foundation to create an endowed scholarship fund here, which has been named in honor of her and Mr. Cantor. She currently is on the Tisch School's Dean's Committee Mrs. Cantor has been a member of the Blue Ribbon Committee and a Grand Patron of The Music Center in Los Angeles. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Discovery Eye Foundation in Los Angeles, where she established the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Fellowship for Original Research. In December 2004 the Discovery Eye Foundation opened the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation Diabetic Eye Research Laboratory at the University of California, Irvine. In 2007 Iris Cantor joined the board of Exploring the Arts, Inc., a private organization supporting a new high school for the arts in New York City.