Meet Dr. Barbara Bourland, native Texan, who has always loved science even as a high school student. “I knew early on that I wanted to apply my interest in science to taking care of people. It was my dad who encouraged me to consider being a doctor.”

Her path to earning a medical degree led her to Durham, North Carolina and Duke University for both college and medical school. “Leaving Texas wasn’t easy when I had to give up the bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush in the springtime but watching Duke basketball was a great substitute.”

 Dr. Bourland’s road to specializing in breast imaging was indirect. She originally started out in radiology, not only doing general work, but specializing in interventional radiology. “When the usefulness of minimally invasive breast biopsies became evident in the mid 1990s, I decided to try them. I got hooked by the patient interaction portion of this procedure and moved steadily more and more into this new subspecialization.” She has been fully subspecialized since 1996.

 As medical director of the Susan Cheek Needler Breast Center, Dr. Bourland oversees the professional and administrative components of the breast imaging service of Morton Plant’s outpatient centers. As a subspecialist in breast imaging and interventional procedures, she devotes 95% of her professional practice to mammography, diagnostic breast imaging, non-surgical breast biopsies and patient consultation/counseling.

 Dr. Bourland has served on the board of CHOICES, a not-for-profit organization made up of 60 community collaborators focusing on total improvement of health care in Pinellas County. Dr. Bourland’s involvement with CHOICES began as chair of the work-group charged with developing an action plan to address the high mortality and morbidty associated with breast and cervical cancer, tobacco-related cancers and melanoma in Pinellas County. When the Pinellas Mammography Voucher Program evolved as a major CHOICES action step, Dr. Bourland elected to focus on this project.

 “I recognized early in this process that a major barrier to changing the impact of breast cancer on our community is the lack of funding for worthy breast health outreach programs. This led me to becoming one of several community activists who brought the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation to the Tampa Bay area.” She presided over the affiliate activities for its first three years. During this time, approximately $1.3 million was raised to support national breast cancer research and local breast health programs, including the Mammography Voucher Program.

 Dr. Bourland has also encouraged individuals and organizations in the community to contribute funds to support breast health care by personally contributing to the Morton Plant Mease Foundation, challenging the Foundation to obtain matching funds to support breast health initiatives at the health care system.

 Dr. Bourland lives with her husband Jim in Dunedin. The couple is very active in the Calvary Chapel in Oldmar. In her spare time, she loves the challenge of offshore fishing or observing fish in their natural habitat by scuba diving. Her next challenge is to learn to spearfish.  And if Dr. Bourland was not involved in medicine, she would probably be “buying old homes and renovating them.”