Our Expert Team / Revlon/UCLA Breast Center Team
Our expert team consists of surgeons and faculty from many disciplines that are integral components of the breast program.
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Helena R. Chang, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Chang, director of the Revlon/UCLA Breast Center and professor of surgery, is a world-renowned surgical oncologist, with a dedicated interest in breast cancer. She has held the Revlon Chair at UCLA since 1997 and has repeatedly been named as one of America’s Top Doctors in her field. Dr. Chang received her Ph.D. in cancer immunology and M.D. from Temple University, and completed her general surgery training at Episcopal Hospital in Philadelphia and a surgical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. She also completed advanced research fellowship training in cell cycle regulation in cancer at Temple University.
As director of the Gonda/UCLA Breast Cancer Research Laboratory and the Clinical Trials Unit for Breast Cancer, Dr. Chang’s research focuses on developing biomarker-based laboratory tests for breast cancer detection, tailored-treatment and cancer vaccine development. Her work has earned her numerous awards and honors. |
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Robert Bennion, M.D.
Dr. Bennion, professor of clinical surgery, received his M.D. from the University of Utah School of Medicine, and completed his residency in vascular surgery at UCLA. Dr. Bennion’s clinical interests include general surgery, surgical infections and breast disease. He is a member of the American Board of Surgery, Association for Academic Surgery, Los Angeles Surgical Society, American College of Surgeons, Southwestern Surgical Congress and Pacific Coast Surgical Association. |
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Paul Schmit, M.D.
Dr. Schmit, professor of surgery, received his M.D. from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Dr. Schmit completed his internship and residency at the University of California, San Diego. He is a member of the American Board of Surgery. Dr. Schmit has a wide range of clinical interest, including breast disease. |
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Raquel Prati, M.D.
Dr. Raquel Prati is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Surgery. she has received her M.D. degree from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and is a board certified breast surgeon from Brazil. Dr. Prati's clinical interests are focused on breast diseases. She is a member of the Brazilian Medical Association and the Brazilian Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Societies. She has completed additional research and clinical fellowship in the United States at the Revlon/UCLA Breast Center.
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Sherry Goldman, N.P.
Sherry Goldman has been dedicated to women’s health for more than 30 years. She obtained her Nurse Practitioner degree at UCLA, and originally focused in the area of obstetrics and gynecology. She took a new direction 14 years ago to become an original team member of the UCLA Breast Center. She has implemented the High Risk Program, Follow-up Program and the surgical education class at the Revlon/UCLA Breast Center. She mentors nurse practitioner students, as well as interns and residents. She sits on the Board of Directors for the National Breast Cancer Coalition, the advisory council for breast cancer research for the state of California. She is a consumer reviewer for the Department of Defense, and a founding member of Friends of the Breast Program at UCLA, which supports the mission of the Revlon/UCLA Breast Center. She recently co-authored a book on breast cancer. |
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Patricia Ganz, M.D.
Dr. Ganz, a medical oncologist, graduated magna cum laude from Radcliffe College (Harvard University) in 1969 and received her M.D. from UCLA in 1973. Dr. Ganz is a pioneer in the assessment of quality of life in cancer patients and survivors, and she is active in clinical trials research with the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP). She has focused much of her clinical and research efforts in the areas of breast cancer and its prevention, and directs the High Risk Program in the Revlon/UCLA Breast Center. She also directs the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control Research in the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, and leads the scientific program focused on patients and survivors. In 1997, she established the UCLA Family Cancer Registry and Genetic Evaluation Program, which serves patients and survivors as well as those at high risk for familial/hereditary cancers. |
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Karen Duvall, M.D.
Dr. Duvall is associate director of the UCLA Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and director of the Preventive Medicine Residency Program. She received her M.D. from the University of Arizona and completed her residency training and a fellowship in clinical nutrition at UCLA. Dr. Duvall’s specialty emphasizes preventative medicine in chronic disease. She was a recipient of the Katherine E. Rogers Scholar Award for Excellence in Women’s Cancer Research. One of her research goals is to find a non-invasive early-detection method for women at high risk for breast cancer that is superior to current methods such as mammography and clinical breast exam. |
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David Wellisch, Ph.D.
David Wellisch, professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Houston and was a psychology intern at UCLA. His research focuses on the psychological aspects of cancer. He has studied cancer patients and their families with the goal of improving coping with the psychosocial stresses of cancer. |
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Joyce Seldon, M.S.
Joyce Seldon is a genetic counselor at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and deputy director for the UCLA Familial Cancer Registry and Genetic Evaluation Program. She received her B.A. in psychology and M.S. in genetic counseling from the University of California, Irvine, and her certification in genetic counseling from the American Board of Genetic Counseling. She has expertise in the field of cancer genetic counseling, cancer risk assessment and cancer genetic predisposition testing, and has spoken and written extensively on cancer genetic issues. She also is an ad hoc reviewer and member of the editorial boards for the Journal of Clinical Oncology and Genetics in Medicine. |
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Cathy Tarte, Physical Therapy
Cathy Tarte, a physical therapist with specialty certification in both orthopaedics and lymphedema, is an original member of the UCLA breast team. Her primary clinical focus is providing comprehensive physical therapy to breast cancer patients, including range of motion of the arm after surgery, specific exercises for the oncology patient, and education and treatment for lymphedema. She sees patients in the Follow-up Clinic at the Revlon/UCLA Breast Center. |
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