Mahmoud B. El-Tamer, MD

I am a breast surgeon with 25 years of experience caring for patients with breast cancer, and I work collaboratively with other breast cancer specialists on Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s multidisciplinary breast cancer disease management team. After receiving surgical training in both oncologic and reconstructive procedures, I became interested in joining these two disciplines to provide improved care to breast cancer patients, and I have developed a special expertise in this growing field of oncoplastic surgery. Currently, I am completing a textbook to help other breast surgeons enhance cosmetic results while performing surgery to treat breast cancer.

My research interests have covered different aspects of breast cancer and quality of care in surgery. I have been the principal or co-principal investigator on research grants from the Avon Breast Cancer Foundation, the United States Veterans’ Administration, and the American College of Surgeons. I was the principal investigator and currently am the co-holder of a US patent for Detectably Labeled Porphyrin Compound for Identifying the Sentinel Lymph Node (US 6,458,336 B1; October 1, 2002). I have led an important investigation exploring the clinical significance of micro-metastasis detected by immuno-histopathology in patients with ductal carcinoma in-situ (DCIS). The results of that research have helped clinicians seriously reconsider the role and the indication of sentinel-node dissection in patients with DCIS.