North Bay Woman

38 NORTH BAY WOMAN | F A L L 2 0 1 5 >> from pg. 37 women. "Most breast surgeons come through general surgery," she explained. "I started in obstetrics and gynecology (OBG) and came through an OBG orientation." She took her residency in OBG at UCSF, and after that, she received a fellowship to study breast cancer surgery under Dr. Melvin Silver- stein at USC. Upon her return to the Bay Area, Kelley found what she calls "an amazing opportunity." At the time, Marin General Hospital and Prima Medical Group were working to bring in more specialists and in particular, they were looking for a breast cancer surgeon. Kelley, who noted that the MGH-Prima medical cooperation resulted in a "tremendously high quality of cancer care," was the perfect fit – not only for her expertise but for her holistic approach to treatment. At the core of this approach, in fact at the core of her relationship to medicine, stands her study of the history of medicine. "I try to take a long view on things," said Kelley, who is now medical director of the Breast Health Center at MGH. "You have to have that humility. We only know what we know." And much has changed in breast cancer treatment over the past 30 years, said DalPo- getto. "There are more treatment options. Some of the protocols that were experimental are now standard; other things that were stan- dard are now advanced upon." For example, breast surgery used to mean a mastectomy, and reconstructive surgery was performed months later. Now, the standard is to save as much tissue as possible and reconstruction, if required, is performed concurrently with breast surgery. "As a doctor, you can serve the patient best by acknowledging what you don't know," Kelley said. "You try to involve them in your learning. You try to empower them so that [treatment] is something they're participating in, rather than something that's happening to them." This overlap of intellectual curiosity and emotional connection is the hallmark of Kel- ley's work, which includes not just treatment, but early identification for better outcomes. "Early identification is the key," Kelley said last year in a press release that discussed the hospital's advanced cancer screening. "Our goal at the Breast Health Center ... is to be as proactive as possible in breast cancer preven- tion, diagnosis, and treatment so we are able to give women that all important extra layer of protection against the disease." For Kelley, being a surgeon is only part of her larger life work of being a healer. ■ 848 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE BLVD. SAN ANSELMO – RED HILL CENTER 415-453-3050 Golddreamsjewelry.com CUSTOM DESIGNS • REPAIRS • APPRAISALS eamsjewelry Like us on

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