Current Breast Cancer Reports - Meet the Editors
Kelly Hunt
Editor-in-Chief
Dr. Kelly Hunt is Professor and Chair of the Department of Breast Surgical Oncology, and the Olla Stribling Distinguished Chair for Cancer Research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Her research focuses on finding less invasive yet more effective surgical procedures for patients with breast diseases and soft-tissue sarcomas. She is recognized as a pioneer in the field of sentinel lymph node biopsy, particularly in the neoadjuvant setting. Dr. Hunt also carries out translational research focused on developing novel treatment strategies involving agents that target cell cycle regulation. Her contributions to the field of breast surgical oncology have resulted in her being elected as a fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She is also a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the Society of Surgical Oncology.
Olutayo Sogunro
Section Editor: Breast Cancer Genetics
Olutayo Sogunro is a fellowship-trained Breast Surgical Oncologist. She was born in Nigeria and grew up in the state of Connecticut. She completed her general surgery residency training at Ohio University in Toledo, OH. She completed a breast surgical oncology fellowship at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. She joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Maryland and is a fulltime practicing Breast Surgical Oncologist in Maryland. Her research interests include triple negative breast cancer, male breast cancer, breast cancer genetics, surgical quality, and health disparities. Her current clinical research is focused on breast cancer genetics and triple negative breast cancer genomics.
Cynthia Ma
Section Editor: Translational Research
Dr. Cynthia Ma is a breast oncologist and a physician scientist, with research focuses on endocrine therapy and targeted agents for the treatment of breast cancer. She has led several biomarker directed, investigator initiated trials including neoadjuvant studies of endocrine agents in combination with inhibitors against PI3K pathway or the CDK4/6 in patients with locally advanced estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. She is the study chair for the ongoing ALLIANCE ALTERNATE trial, which evaluates Ki67 based biomarkers as well as genomic predictors of endocrine responsiveness. She is the clinical director of the Breast Cancer Program in Medical Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine and a member of the Alliance Breast Committee.
Andrea Barrio
Section Editor: Survivorship
Andrea V. Barrio, MD, FACS is an Associate Attending with the Breast Service, Department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and an Associate Professor of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Barrio received her BS degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and her MD from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, where she was elected to the membership of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. She completed her surgical residency at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center, followed by one year of breast surgical oncology fellowship training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Dr. Barrio specializes in the surgical treatment of breast cancer. Her research focuses on decreasing the morbidity of breast cancer treatment, specifically lymphedema, which is a consequence of more-extensive axillary surgery. To date, she has led/co-led several studies on incidence and risk factors for lymphedema, including the role of inflammation in lymphedema development. She has also focused on methods to prevent lymphedema using neoadjuvant chemotherapy in clinically node-positive patients to reduce the extent of axillary surgery and minimize the need for axillary lymph node dissection.
She serves as PI on a lymphedema screening study in women undergoing breast cancer treatment to prospectively determine the incidence of upper-extremity lymphedema after axillary lymph node dissection and to evaluate the role of inflammatory biomarkers, as well as traditional patient and treatment factors, in the pathogenesis of lymphedema. She also serves as PI on a multi-institution prospective study evaluating the accuracy of sentinel lymph node biopsy after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced breast cancer.
Sarah McLaughlin
Section Editor: Survivorship
Sarah A. McLaughlin, M.D., is chair of the Department of Surgery and a co-deputy director of Disease Groups, in the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center. She holds the academic rank of professor of surgery, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. Dr. McLaughlin completed her internship and residency in general surgery at Mayo Clinic. She completed a breast surgical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. She has an active breast surgery clinical and research practice and has a history of intramural, state and federal/NIH research funding with a specific focus on issues affecting breast cancer survivorship especially lymphedema diagnosis and treatment. Dr. McLaughlin’s research is focused on breast cancer, high-risk features of cancer, lymphedema etiology and prediction methods. She has been actively involved in the Alliance for Clinical Trials Axillary Reverse Mapping trial. Further, she is involved nationally in multiple committees for the American Society of Breast Surgeons and the Society of Surgical Oncology.
Bruce G. Haffty
Section Editor: Radiation Oncology
Bruce G. Haffty, M.D., FACR, FASTRO, FASCO is Associate Vice Chancellor, Cancer Programs, Rutgers Biomedical Health Sciences, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Professor and Chairman of Radiation Oncology, Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Jersey Medical School. His medical school, internship and residency training was at Yale School of Medicine. He spent the majority of his academic career at Yale and moved to Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in 2005. Dr. Haffty has a long and successful record in clinical and translational research in radiation oncology. He is currently co-investigator on several national clinical trials through the NRG and Alliance cooperative groups. He has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles, 30 book chapters, and numerous editorials and letters. In addition to a busy clinical practice, Dr. Haffty has served on numerous national committees related to research and education in breast cancer and radiation oncology. He is a Past President of the American Radium Society, past Chairman of the Residency Review Committee in Radiation Oncology, past President of the American Board of Radiology, past President of ASTRO, and past President of RSNA. He is the 2020 recipient of ASTRO’s Gold Medal. He currently serves as Deputy Editor of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Lisa A. Newman
Breast Cancer Disparities
Dr. Newman is a surgical breast oncologist and coordinates the multidisciplinary breast oncology program for the Weill Cornell Medicine/New York Presbyterian Hospital Network, which includes the diverse communities of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. She has a primary research interest in breast cancer disparities, health equity and the impact of genetic ancestry on breast cancer risk. She leads an international breast cancer research program involving collaborators throughout different regions of Africa; through this program she also provides capacity-building education and training exchange activities.
Jacqueline Jeruss
Section Editor: Fertility Issues and Breast Cancer
Dr. Jeruss serves as Associate Vice President for Research, Integrity and Compliance at the University of Michigan, Associate Dean for Regulatory Affairs of the University Michigan Medical School, as well as Director of the Dr. Polly Cheung Breast Surgical Oncology Fellowship and Co-Director of the NIH T32 Surgical Oncology Training Program. She is a Professor of Surgery and holds additional appointments in the Departments of Pathology and Biomedical Engineering Dr. Jeruss received her medical degree from the University of Vermont and holds a PhD from Northwestern University in the field of breast cancer biology. She completed her general surgery residency at Northwestern and a Breast Surgical Oncology Fellowship at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Her clinical and basic research interests are focused on novel therapeutics for aggressive breast cancer subtypes, new approaches to manage cancer metastasis, and the incorporation of fertility preservation into the care of young patients with cancer.
Amanda Kong
Section Editor: Local-Regional Evaluation and Therapy
Amanda L. Kong, MD, MS is a Professor of Surgery and Section Chief of Breast Surgery in the Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. Kong received her undergraduate degree at Brown University and her MD from the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She completed her general surgery residency at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City followed by a Breast Surgical Oncology Fellowship at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She joined the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2008 where she obtained a Master’s Degree in Epidemiology in 2010. Dr. Kong currently serves as the Chair of the Breast Fellowship Training Committee of the Society of Surgical Oncology and is the State Chair for Wisconsin for the Commission on Cancer. Dr. Kong is also a member of the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Surgery. Among her many honors, Dr. Kong has been awarded the Medical College of Wisconsin Outstanding Medical Student Teaching Award several times as well as the Excellence in Professionalism Award from the faculty practice in 2016. Her research focuses on breast cancer disparities and outcomes, treatment of breast cancer in the elderly, as well as improving the quality of life for breast cancer patients.
Anees Chagpar
Section Editor: Global Oncology
Anees is Professor in the Department of Surgery, Yale School of Medicine. She completed her BSc in Honors Biochemistry and MD with Honors in Research at the University of Alberta, and her general surgery residency training and MSc at the University of Saskatchewan. She went on to complete the Susan G. Komen Interdisciplinary Breast Fellowship at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, an MPH at Harvard School of Public Health, an MA in Bioethics and Medical Humanities at the University of Louisville, and most recently, graduated at the top of her class with an MBA for Executives with a focus on Leadership in Healthcare from Yale’s School of Management. She serves as the Breast Surgery Section editor for UpToDate, the Assistant Director for the START@Yale Program, and co-leads the Yale Global Surgery Faculty Network. Actively involved in research and education, she has written over 180 peer-reviewed manuscripts, including one of her recent investigator-initiated clinical trials to improve outcomes in breast cancer surgery which was published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. She teaches an online course on Coursera entitled “An Introduction to Breast Cancer”, and co-hosts a radio show and podcast called “Yale Cancer Answers”. She has given hundreds of talks and workshops all over the world, and is committed to improving global health outcomes through high quality research, education and collaborative efforts.
Julie Lang
Section Editor: Clinical Trials
Dr. Julie Lang is a breast surgeon and physician-scientist at the Cleveland Clinic. She serves as the Chief of Breast Surgery, Hillcrest Hospital and Director, Eastern Region Cleveland Clinic Breast Program. She has a Staff appointment in Cancer Biology at the Lerner Research Institute, where her research laboratory is located. She leads clinical trials on breast cancer therapies and translational research studies on breast cancer biomarkers.
Sarah Tevis
Section Editor: High Risk Lesions and Breast Cancer Prevention
Sarah Tevis is a breast surgical oncologist and Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Colorado. She completed medical school at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and general surgery residency at the University of Wisconsin Hospital. Her breast surgical oncology fellowship was completed at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her research focuses on patient reported outcome measures and how we can use what we learn about quality of life during breast cancer treatment to improve shared decision making and provide timely supportive services to patients during treatment.
Mahesh Shetty
Section Editor: Breast Cancer Screening & Imaging
Dr. Shetty is a Clinical Professor of Radiology at Baylor College of Medicine and a Fellow of the Society of Breast Imaging. He is currently the Managing Director of Privia Gulf Coast Imaging and Medical Director of Pink Door Imaging in Houston. He is a past president of the Houston Radiological Society and an examiner of the American Board of Radiology. Dr Shetty is an International visiting Professor of the Radiological Society of North America and American College of Radiology and is well published with three text books and five special issue Journal editorial roles in the subspecialty of Breast and Gynecological Imaging.