Breast Surgery 

Director:   Holly Mason, M. D.

Duration:   4 weeks
Students per month:   1

The goal of this rotation is to expose an interested fourth year student to the field of breast surgery and to help the student gain an appreciation for the multidisciplinary aspects of breast care.  The student will follow the surgeon in the clinic seeing patients both with benign breast disease as well as breast cancer.  The student will learn how to take a detailed history and perform a complete breast exam as well as observe office-based breast procedures.  The student will also follow the surgeon in the operating room for surgical cases (lumpectomy, mastectomy, sentinel node biopsy, axillary lymph node dissection) as well as follow any postoperative patients on the floor.  The student will attend the Breast Pathology Conference, which is a multidisciplinary review conference in which cases involving breast cancer or precancer are presented and reviewed by surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, radiologists and pathologists.  The medical student also may have the opportunity to attend other clinics such as the High Risk Clinic, observe a session with the medical or radiation oncologist or review breast imaging studies with a radiologist. 

Students should contact our office at (413) 794-5265 at least 2 weeks prior to start of rotation.