Kotharis’ Generosity Provides Comfort, Support for Future Cancer Patients

With nearly 100 years of healthcare experience between them, Drs. Kamal and Tarun Kothari are pillars of the medical community in the greater Rochester area.

For half a century, the Kotharis have practiced medicine in Rochester – Dr. Kamal Kothari as a women’s health imaging and breast cancer radiologist and Dr. Tarun Kothari as a gastroenterologist.

The couple has treated thousands of patients and impacted tens of thousands of lives through their medical work – and their generosity as philanthropists with the Rochester Regional Health Foundation. When the Kotharis decided to make a new philanthropic gift, the decision brought together Dr. Kamal Kothari’s passion for early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer and their love of the Rochester community.

Their generous donation is helping to reimagine one of the area’s busiest cancer care areas into a more healing, welcoming environment. The Drs. Kamal and Tarun Kothari Infusion Suites and Conference Room at Unity Hospital will welcome patients from around the region into an updated modern space where they can receive chemotherapy, immunotherapy, other targeted therapies, and supportive care for cancer symptoms to help them heal.

"Our professional work at Rochester General and Unity Hospitals shaped our lives for nearly half a century, and we are honored to give back after inheriting philanthropic mindsets from our parents,” Drs. Kamal and Tarun Kothari said.

Learning to serve their communities early

Both Tarun and Kamal were born and raised in India in middle class families.

As one of 11 children, Dr. Tarun Kothari said his family would eat together, then go out and give their extra rice to homeless people. His mother would visit leprosy homes where people with leprosy live and provide for them as best as she could.

“We learned early on the needs of poor and ill,” Drs. Tarun and Kamal Kothari said.

After exceling in grade school, Dr. Tarun Kothari left his hometown in 1967 and traveled to attend medical school at age 17. There, he met Kamal – an equally intelligent and ambitious medical student. Both doctors were 22 when they earned their medical degrees.

They were medical school sweethearts and got married in late 1973 and arrived in the U.S. in early 1974 with $8 each in their pockets and a determination to pursue more training and higher levels of medicine.

Becoming established in the Rochester area

Dr. Tarun Kothari completed his residency at W.S.U. in Detroit and fellowship training at the University of Rochester to become a gastroenterologist; Dr. Kamal Kothari did the same in the field of radiology at Rochester General Hospital, dedicating her life to early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer.

Dr. Tarun Kothari started the practice of gastroenterology at Rochester General, as well as Park Ridge Hospital in 1979 - which would eventually become Unity Hospital. Dr. Tarun Kothari served as president of the medical staff during the merger of St. Mary's Hospital and Park Ridge in 1996 and 1997. He became member of the board at Unity in 1998 and later at Rochester Regional Health, serving in various capacities for 18 years. He also served both Foundations as a board member.

Dr. Kamal Kothari completed her fellowship at Strong Memorial Hospital and began working at a private practice of Radiology focusing on women’s health imaging for 28+ years before joining Borg & Ide Diagnostic Imaging in 2009. There, her work aligned with Unity’s Lipson Cancer Institute.

Both doctors have a strong belief in giving back to the patients they serve. Their first philanthropic effort was in 2012 when Unity Hospital’s state-of-the-art endoscopy center was named Drs. Kamal and Tarun Kothari Center for Digestive Diseases and Endoscopy at Unity. Dr. Tarun Kothari had served as Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology for nearly 20 years.

“Our commitment is to give patients our very best as a physician,” Dr. Tarun Kothari said. “We make donations because we feel it is not enough to help them stay healthy but there is more to be done.”

Rooted in their community

The expansion and modernization of the space within the Lipson Cancer Institute at Unity will double the infusion capacity from 10 to 20 bays. Expanding this capacity allows Lipson Cancer Institute to care for more patients while improving the efficiency and coordination of treatment.

Transforming the cancer care space at Unity Hospital is more than creating something is pleasant to look at; the changes and expansion allow cancer care teams at Lipson Cancer Institute to support more patients and change more lives for the better.

As the work to refresh the infusion suites at Unity Hospital is unveiled to the public, the Kotharis are confident that it will reflect the high standard of care patients receive at Lipson Cancer Institute.

Through their decades of clinical leadership and deep commitment to each of their patients, the Kotharis are an exceptional example of what it means to care like family and remain rooted in the community they served for so many years.

“The quality and compassion are unmatched in Rochester,” Dr. Tarun Kothari said. “We have great, high quality healthcare here. The care we see is full of compassion.”