Speaker Bios
Breast Reconstruction Webinar
Amy Alderman, MD
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Section of Plastic Surgery, University of Michigan Medical Center
Dr. Alderman is Assistant Professor of Surgery, Section of Plastic Surgery at the University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her clinical focus involves working with women with breast deformities resulting from breast cancer and she has authored several breast reconstruction-related studies.
She is a member of the ASPS Clinical Evidence Based Research Committee and the Clinical Trials Network Committee and has been an ASPS Member Surgeon since 2006. Dr. Alderman is a past Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and is currently supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Physician Faculty Program.
Michele “Missy” Fish
Breast Cancer Survivor and Breast Reconstruction Patient
Missy will be honored by the ASPS on November 1, 2008 with a Patients of Courage: Triumph Over Adversity Award. The Patients of Courage program honors patients, whose lives were restored through reconstructive plastic surgery and carry an optimistic outlook on life, positively affecting people through charitable actions.
In 1991, at the age of 39, Missy was diagnosed with breast cancer in the left breast. She underwent mastectomy and immediate reconstruction. In 2005, she was diagnosed with cancer in the right breast. With her general surgeon and plastic surgeon working closely together at the Siteman Cancer at Washington University, she chose mastectomy and immediate reconstruction with a TRAM flap.
After recovering from her first reconstruction, she decided to create an event celebrating the connection between women's fitness and their health. CELEBRATE FITNESS, a fitness workshop, was born. The annual event has raised over $700,000 for the Siteman Cancer Center and supports the Young Women's Breast Cancer Program. She recently started a second event, CELEBRATE SPOT, "a walk for dogs and their people" to benefit breast cancer research. Missy lives in the St. Louis, Missouri area.
Roberta Gartside, MD
Private Practice, Incoming ASPS Vice President, Communications
Breast Cancer Survivor and Breast Reconstruction Patient
Dr. Gartside is in private practice, with two offices in the Northern Virginia area. She has been practicing for 19 years, and has been an ASPS Member Surgeon since 1990. Dr. Gartside serves on various ASPS committees including the Women’s Plastic Surgeons Steering Committee and is past-president of the National Capital Society of Plastic Surgeons.
She found a mass in her breast in November 2007, after a clean mammogram the previous January. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and elected to have a single mastectomy with immediate tissue expander breast reconstruction in December.
Linda Phillips, MD
President, Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation
Chief of the Department of Plastic Surgery and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at the University of Texas, Galveston
Dr. Phillips is the President of the ASPS Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation, and Chief of the Department of Plastic Surgery and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at the University of Texas, Galveston. Her clinical practice includes a focus on breast reconstruction and healing of difficult wounds.
An ASPS Member Surgeon since 1987, Dr. Phillips currently serves on the ASPS/PSEF Board of Directors, Executive Committee and the Women’s Plastic Surgeons Steering Committee among others. She is also Chair of the American Board of Plastic Surgery, has served on more than 100 medical association committees, and is active in more than thirty scientific societies.
Andrea Pusic, MD
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Vice Chair of ASPS Clinical Evidence Based Research Committee
Dr. Pusic specializes in reconstruction after cancer surgery at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and is involved in a number of advocacy, outreach, and education initiatives for breast cancer survivors. She is the author of several breast reconstruction-related studies, including: quality of life and patient expectations in breast reconstruction.
She recently developed a new questionnaire, the MSKCC BREAST-Q, which measures satisfaction and quality of life outcomes among breast reconstruction patients by examining body image, psychological, social, sexual, and physical function as well as satisfaction with the process of care. Dr. Pusic is Vice Chair of the ASPS Clinical Evidence Based Research Committee and has been an ASPS Member Surgeon since 2004.
