View the up-to-date Keynote for the 2024 Annual Meeting.
Keynote Speaker
V. Suzanne Klimberg, MD, MSHCT, PhD, FACS
About Dr. Klimberg
Dr. V. Suzanne Klimberg has over 30 years of experience in breast surgical oncology. She has pioneered innovative breast cancer treatment methods of patients, authored over 350 publications in peer-reviewed journals, 8 patents, 16 books, and has held over 25 editorial board positions for surgical journals and publications. Additionally, Dr. Klimberg has won over 75 awards in teaching, research, and clinical care, and is the past president of three major American surgical organizations, and Treasurer of another. She has graduated 40 Fellows in Breast Disease.
She is a Senior Director for the American Board of Surgery, the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Complex Surgical Oncology as well as Co-Chair of the ASBrS Fellows Oncoplastic Breast Skills Course. Dr. Klimberg is and has been funded by the NCI, American Cancer Society, Susan G Komen Foundation, Merit Review, and the Fashion Footwear Association of New York. She has held the Muriel Balsam Kohn Chair in Breast Surgical Oncology given in her honor, and was presented with her own named lectureship by her colleagues and friends at UAMS. She now holds the Courtney M. Townsend Distinguished Chair in General Surgery at UTMB where she is the Vice Chair for Administration, the Chief of Surgical Oncology and the Clinical Cancer Center Director as well as Adjunct Professor at MDACC in Houston. She is PI for the Alliance 221702 – the ARM trial which is studying the ability of Axillary Reverse Mapping to prevent lymphedema.
Education & Training
After her PhD candidacy in Biochemistry at the University of Miami Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Dr. Klimberg earned her medical degree with honors at the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville, Florida. She remained at UF to complete her general surgery internship and residency as well as a clinical oncology fellowship. Dr. Klimberg then developed, completed and then became Director for one of the first Fellowships in Diseases of the Breast at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock, Arkansas. She went on to earn her PhD in clinical and translational sciences at University of Arkansas in Fayettesville, Arkansas and her masters of health care transformation at the University of Texas, Austin, Texas.
Clinical Interests
Dr. Klimberg's clinical interests include: prevention of lymphedema using Axillary Reverse Mapping (ARM) technique, needleless breast surgery, minimally invasive breast surgery, treatment of breast cancer with radiofrequency ablation, diagnosis of breast cancer with tears, high-risk management, breast pain, and chest wall pain after surgery.
