Victor J. Zannis, MD, FACS, President

Dr. Victor Zannis is the Medical Director of the Breast Care Center of the Southwest in Phoenix, Arizona. A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Dr. Zannis attended Stanford University and UCLA Medical School. After residency training in Phoenix, he became board certified in General Surgery through the American Board of Surgery and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He has performed breast surgery for over 20 years and, for the last ten years, has sub-specialized full-time in breast care. Dr. Zannis has recently been published in the American Journal of Surgery, Cancer, Annals of Surgical Oncology, and the Breast Journal on the changing surgical techniques in breast care. He is certified in breast ultrasound and stereotactic breast procedures by the American Society of Breast Surgeons and serves as an instructor for the breast ultrasound and stereotactic technology courses sponsored by the American Society of Breast Surgeons and American College of Surgeons.TOP OF PAGE

Eric B. Whitacre, MD, FACS, President Elect

Dr. Eric Whitacre, a board-certified surgeon who practices in Tucson, Arizona, is director of The Breast Center of Southern Arizona. He is also certified in breast ultrasound by the American Society of Breast Surgeons and has served as a lecturer and instructor for many of the Society’s breast ultrasound courses. Dr. Whitacre chaired the Society’s 2006 Annual Meeting Committee, the Committee on Breast Ultrasound Certification and is a member of the American College of Surgeons Coding and Reimbursement Committee. Dr. Whitacre received his medical degree from Cornell University and completed his surgical training and served as chief surgical resident at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. TOP OF PAGE

Howard C. Snider, MD, FACS, Secretary/Treasurer

Dr. Howard Snider is certified by the American Board of Surgery and limits his practice in Montgomery, Alabama to diseases of the breast. He graduated from the Medical College of Alabama where he was awarded both the Upjohn Achievement Award and the Special Merit Award for superior scholastic attainment. He interned at Johns Hopkins Hospital before returning to the University of Alabama Hospitals and Clinics for his general surgery residency. He was on the clinical faculty at the University of Alabama before entering private practice in Montgomery in 1976. He was Chief of Surgery at Baptist Medical Center in Montgomery before spending 1992 - 1993 in a breast oncology research fellowship at Rush-Presbyterian St Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago. He has been on the stereotactic and ultrasound faculties of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) for over a decade and the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBS) courses since their inception. His practice was accredited by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine in 2001, and he is certified by ASBS in breast ultrasound and stereotaxis. He chaired both the CME Committee and the Breast Ultrasound Certification Committee for ASBS and also serves on the Breast Imaging Technologies Committee. He is a past president of the Alabama Chapter of ACS and currently is serving his second three-year term as governor of the chapter. He is a member of the Society of Surgical Oncology. Dr. Snider has authored or co-authored 25 articles in peer reviewed journals, the majority of which relate to breast disease. He was a contributing editor to the Rush Review of Surgery and is the author of a chapter on Breast Ultrasound in an upcoming surgical oncology textbook. He received the Howard L. Holley Award from the Medical Association of the State of Alabama for his book, Jury of My Peers: a Surgeon’s Encounter with the Malpractice Crisis.TOP OF PAGE

Helen A. Pass, MD, FACS, Chairman of the Board

Helen Pass, M.D., is certified by the American Board of Surgery and limits her practice to surgical diseases of the breast. A graduate of the University of Michigan School of Medicine in Ann Arbor, Dr. Pass performed her general surgery residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. She completed a fellowship, as well as serving as a staff surgeon in the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health. Dr. Pass has served as Director of the Comprehensive Breast Care Centers at both The University of Michigan and William Beaumont Hospital. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Clinical Surgery at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, where she heads the Breast Program at Lawrence Hospital. She is Past-President of the American Society of Breast Surgeons, having served as 2003 Program Chairman. She also serves on the Mastery of Breast Surgery and Education Committees, serves as SSO liaison and has been instrumental in the accreditation and match program for multidisciplinary Breast Fellowship.

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Shawna C. Willey, MD, FACS,
Past President

Dr. Shawna Willey is an Associate Professor at Georgetown University and the Director of the Betty Lou Ourisman Breast Health Center at Georgetown University Hospital’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. A native of Iowa, she received her MD from the University of Iowa and completed her residency in surgery at the George Washington University Medical Center. Before joining Lombardi, Dr. Willey served as the Director of the Breast Care Center at George Washington University. She serves as the Chief of the Division of Breast Surgery and is an active researcher in the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Willey has a passion for education and international health and has been involved in programs throughout the world serving as a lecturer in Germany, the Philippines, for the Breast Cancer Program in Poland and as a consultant to the King Faisal Specialists Hospital and Research Center in Saudi Arabia. Her work in the American Society of Breast Surgeons has been as the immediate Past President, a member of the Board of Directors, past chair of the Education Committee and multiple education programs for the Society.TOP OF PAGE

Hiram S. Cody, III, MD, FACS,
Director

Hiram S. Cody, III, MD, FACS, is Attending Surgeon in the Department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York. Dr. Cody is also Professor of Clinical Surgery at The Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, New York. He was the Program Director of The American Society of Breast Surgeons 9th Annual Meeting.TOP OF PAGE

Darius S. Francescatti, MD, FACS,
Director

Dr. Darius S. Francescatti is Assistant Professor of Surgery at Rush Presbyterian Saint Lukes Medical Center in Chicago and an attending physician at Resurrection Hospital and Rush Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center. His practice is limited to diseases of the breast, both benign and malignant. He previously served as chair of the Society’s Bylaws Committee.TOP OF PAGE

Cary S. Kaufman, MD, FACS,
Director

Cary Kaufman M.D., FACS, was trained at UCLA and the University of Washington. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Washington and the Medical Director of the Bellingham Breast Center. As a breast surgeon with 27 years experience, his professional life focuses on individual patient care, with special interests in research, teaching and community education. Dr. Kaufman has published many articles and lectured on varied aspects of breast care both nationally and internationally. He has lectured on the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, including 13 years speaking in many teaching conferences with Laszlo Tabar, M.D, the internationally renowned mammographer.

Dr. Kaufman is the immediate Past-President of the National Consortium of Breast Centers (2002-2005). He is a member of the Society of Surgical Oncology, the American Society of Breast Surgeons (member of the credentials committee), is on the editorial review board of the American Journal of Clinical Oncology and The Breast Journal and is on the National Ultrasound Faculty of the American College of Surgeons. He has published articles on several aspects of breast care, diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Kaufman has pioneered the use of cryoablation (cold therapy) for treatment of benign and malignant breast tumors. Other published works include the value of preoperative needle biopsy, use of ultrasound in the operating room, choosing the optimal procedure for axillary surgery, and the risks and benefits of Tamoxifen as prevention. TOP OF PAGE

Tricia A. Kelly, MD, FACS,
Director

Dr. Tricia Kelly is a dedicated breast surgeon with Breast Care Specialists in Allentown, PA. Prior to her position here she served as Assistant Professor of Surgery and Associate Director of the Breast Care Center at The George Washington University.

Dr. Kelly earned her medical degree at the Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. She completed her internship and residency in general surgery at the Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Camden. During this time she pursued a year of basic science research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in fetal surgery. In addition, she pursued further training in breast surgery as a fellow at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio.

She has been published in numerous articles in various journals including the American Journal of Surgery, the Breast Journal, the American Journal of Roentgenology and the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Kelly has also participated in many community outreach lectures on breast cancer awareness. She is certified in Breast Ultrasound by the American Society of Breast Surgeons and currently serves as their Chair of the Education Committee. TOP OF PAGE

V. Suzanne Klimberg, MD, FACS,
Director

V. Suzanne Klimberg, MD is the Muriel Balsam Kohn Chair in Breast Surgical Oncology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), Professor of Surgery and Pathology, Director of Diseases of the Breast Fellowship and Director of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute Breast Cancer Program and has over 200 publications.  Her research has been funded from the National of Institutes Health, VA Merit Review, Susan G. Komen, American Cancer Society, the Department of Defense, the Fashion Footwear Association of New York (FFANY) and QVC and the Tenenbaum Research Foundation.  Dr. Klimberg serves on the editorial boards for the Annals of Surgery, Journal of Surgery, Journal of Surgical Onco1ogy, Breast Disease Quarterly, and she isBreast Section Editor for Annals of Surgical Oncology.   She is a Director of the American Board of Surgery (ABS) representing the American Surgical, is the former President of the Association of Academic Surgery (AAS), a member of the Executive Council of the Society of Surgical Oncology, sits on the Breast Committee of the National Surgical Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), and a member of the NAPBC that is striving to improve quality of breast cancer care nationwide.  She is also a Board Member of the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBS).  Her research interests focus on the role of glutamine in prevention of breast cancer and the side-effects of breast cancer treatment, radiofrequency ablation for the treatment of breast cancer, and axillary reverse mapping (ARM) for the prevention of lymphedema. TOP OF PAGE

Barbara A. Pockaj, MD, FACS
Director

Barbara A. Pockaj is a senior consultant and professor of surgery in the department of general surgery with specialty training in surgical oncology. Dr. Pockaj graduated magna cum laude with an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University with a double major in biomedical and electrical engineering. She then went on to receive her MD degree from Vanderbilt University. She received her general surgery training at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She pursued further training in surgical oncology, immunotherapy, and tumor immunology at the National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health, in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Pockaj has been a consultant at Mayo Clinic Scottsdale since 1995 where she has a special interest in surgical oncology with a focus in breast cancer and melanoma. She is currently active in not only a busy clinical practice but also education and was named Educator of the Year in Research in 2004. She is very active in several areas of research including functioning as a reviewer for several journals, the principal investigator on several research projects, and currently in the research base coordinator for the surgery committee of North Central Cancer Treatment Group. TOP OF PAGE