Longtime UCLA Donor Wing K. Chung Once Again Honors Memory Of His Wife With Support For Transfusion Safety

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Wing-Kwai Chung, an accomplished retired structural engineer whose late wife Alice Lee-Tsing Chung was a clinical laboratory scientist in the UCLA blood bank for more than a decade, has made several gifts totaling more than $1 million to honor his wife's service.

The most recent contribution funded the UCLA Wing-Kwai and Alice Lee-Tsing Chung Transfusion Service, helped facilitate the creation of a new position, Transfusion Safety Officer, the first of its kind at a University of California medical center, and funded equipment that reduces the risk of transfusion-transmitted pathogens. In recognition of previous gifts, UCLA Health named the Wing-Kwai and Alice Lee-Tsing Chung Garden outside Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. The Garden is a tranquil oasis amidst a busy hospital, offering a respite to patients, family members, hospital staff, and visitors.

Chung hopes his donations inspire greater philanthropic interest from the Asian American community, while also serving as a national model for transfusion service safety.

"It gives me great satisfaction to advance UCLA Health's mission of research, education, patient care and public service," Chung said.  According to Chung, his wife was always helping people. "She believed in the power of education and its ability to improve a person's life," Wing recalled. The Chungs shared a long history of philanthropy. Together, he said, they often donated to causes that promoted health and education.

"I am grateful to Wing for his generosity and admire his loving tributes to his late wife," said Dr. John C. Mazziotta, vice chancellor, UCLA Health Sciences and CEO, UCLA Health. "Wing is a valuable partner. The university appreciates his passion and support for core operations."

Patients come to UCLA with complex and life-threatening diseases, and the preparation and administration of blood products are a crucial part of their care. The UCLA Blood & Platelet Center collects more than 30,000 units of blood and platelets each year, and UCLA Health performs more than 70,000 transfusions of blood products annually. The safety officer position funded by Chung helps ensure safety and education in transfusion medicine.

Dr. Alyssa Ziman, chief of the UCLA division of clinical laboratory medicine, medical director of clinical laboratories and medical director of transfusion medicine, is responsible for all medical laboratory tests at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

Ziman said one important initiative made possible by Chung's gift will improve mobile blood product delivery within the hospital and in a disaster. Because of Chung's generosity, when a patient needs a massive transfusion—which is common in transplantation and trauma — a mobile, battery-powered refrigerator will be deployed to safely transport and store blood products at the patient's bedside in the operating room and emergency department. 

"Mr. Chung's gift is doubly meaningful to me," she said. "He made it in honor of one of our former beloved staff members, Alice Lee-Tsing Chung, who was known for her diligence and professionalism. Through Mr. Chung's gift, we have been able to improve patient care through provider education, and implemented processes to optimize utilization and reduce risks related to transfusion."

About UCLA Health

UCLA Health is among the world's most comprehensive academic health systems, with a mission to provide state-of-the-art patient care, train top medical professionals and support pioneering research and discovery. It includes four hospitals on two campuses — Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital and the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA in the Westwood area of Los Angeles, and UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica – and more than 180 medical practices throughout Southern California. UCLA Health also includes the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. UCLA Health hospitals ranked #1 in Los Angeles, #1 in California and #6 in the nation in the 2019-20 assessment by U.S. News & World Report. www.uclahealth.org

Contact: Ellen Haddigan Durgun(310) 206-3878 

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SOURCE UCLA Health