"Fighting Back" - Ruthanne Terrero

August 24, 2017 was a very special day for Jill Lustigman, a travel advisor as it was her birthday and “graduation” day of sorts; she had just completed her final dose of radiation treatment for breast cancer. Tests showed back in December of 2016 that Lustigman had “triple-negative breast cancer.” The lump was already more than three centimeters in size and time was of the essence. Lustigman researched New York hospitals and chose the Dubin Breast Center at Mount Sinai the moment she walked in the doors. “It looked like a medispa,” she recalls. “There were fresh flowers, there was spa music, there were apples and oranges, and hand sanitizer, anything you needed. It was all right there for you.” Elisa Port, MD, FACS, associate professor of surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, chief of breast surgery and co-director of the Dubin Breast Center at the Mount Sinai Hospital, who ended up being Lustigman’s surgeon, didn’t hesitate to take her on. “Looking at your cancer, it wouldn’t have matter who you knew. I was going to find a way to fit you in,” Dr. Port had told her. Lustigman was also encouraged to learn the center had an oncologist, Hanna Irie, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine, hematology and medical oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and a medical oncologist at the Dubin Breast Center at Mount Sinai Hospital, who treated only those with triple-negative breast cancer.

- Elisa Port, MD, FACS, Associate Professor, Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Chief, Breast Surgery, Co-Director, Dubin Breast Center, The Mount Sinai Hospital

- Hanna Irie, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology, Oncological Services, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Medical Oncologist, Dubin Breast Center, The Mount Sinai Hospital

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