Stephanie Downs-Canner, MD
Breast Surgeon
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About Me
- Assistant Attending Surgeon
I specialize in providing surgical care for all types of breast cancer, with a focus on minimizing side effects and lessening procedural impact on patient quality of life through careful, multidisciplinary treatment planning with my colleagues in medical oncology, radiation oncology, and plastic surgery.
I have experience using innovative surgical techniques such as oncoplastic surgery — which refers to traditional breast cancer surgery used to remove the cancerous tissue, followed by reconstructive surgery — and nipple-sparing mastectomy.
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Many patients I see are concerned about the cosmetic or psychosocial aspects of surgical treatment for breast cancer. I take the time to understand my patients’ goals and expectations for their surgical treatment to offer the care that not only gets them the best possible outcome but also corresponds to their individual needs and preferences. Understandably, patients are often concerned about recurrence (cancer coming back after treatment) and want to know what they can do to prevent this from happening. I speak honestly with my patients, educate them on the evidence-based treatment options that would be best for them, and involve them in the decision-making process to choose a treatment plan that most closely aligns with their values.
In the simplest sense, I entered the field of oncology so I could help people through a really challenging time. Being the family member of a woman with breast cancer helped me to understand what it feels like to go through the breast cancer treatment journey with someone who has received a diagnosis of breast cancer. I bring this perspective into each of my patient interactions.
I am actively involved in research to improve our understanding of how we can manipulate or enhance our bodies’ own immune response to better fight cancers. I am a member of Jayanta Chaudhuri’s laboratory, where my work specifically focuses on the role that a certain type of immune cell —the B cell — plays in helping (or hurting) our immune system’s ability to fight cancer. My research also studies the B-cell’s importance to the efficacy of a type of immunotherapy called checkpoint blockade. Outside of work, I love spending time outdoors with my husband, two sons, and two dogs. We enjoy hiking all over, especially in the mountains of the Hudson Valley.
A breast surgeon is a doctor with special training in surgery on breasts.
My Specialties
- Breast Disease
Education
- General Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Residencies
- General Surgery - University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Awards and Honors
- National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program
- American College of Surgeons Faculty Research Fellow
- National Institutes of Health Paul Calabresi K12 Scholar
Fellowships
- Breast Surgical Oncology - Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Board Certifications
- American Board of Surgery
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HMO, EPO
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EPO, HMO, PPO, POS
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PPO, POS, EPO, HMO
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Dr. Downs-Canner sees patients at one location.
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Doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering work as teams, with specialists from all different areas. This allows us to consider all your needs together, and to give you the best possible care.
Clinical Trials
Memorial Sloan Kettering's doctors and scientists are constantly developing new treatments for cancer. MSK is typically running hundreds of clinical trials at a given time.
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Search clinical trialsResearch and Publications
Downs-Canner S, Shaw PH. A comparison of clinical trial enrollment between adolescent and young adult (AYA) oncology patients treated at affiliated adult and pediatric oncology centers. J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2009 Dec;31(12):927-9. doi: 10.1097/MPH.0b013e3181b91180. PubMed PMID: 19855302.
Downs-Canner S, Bahar R, Reddy SK, Cardinal JS, Marsh JW, Geller DA, Tsung A. Indeterminate pulmonary nodules represent lung metastases in a significant portion of patients undergoing liver resection for malignancy. J Gastrointest Surg. 2012 Dec;16(12):2256-9. doi: 10.1007/s11605-012-2051-y. Epub 2012 Oct 20. PubMed PMID: 23086449.
Downs-Canner S, Bartlett DL. Regional delivery of oncolytic vaccinia virus: it’s time for clinical trials. Ann Surg Oncol. 2014 Jul;21(7):2127-8. doi: 10.1245/s10434-014-3660-3. Epub 2014 Mar 28. PubMed PMID: 24682649; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4262111.
Zeh HJ, Downs-Canner S, McCart JA, Guo ZS, Rao UN, Ramalingam L, Thorne SH, Jones HL, Kalinski P, Wieckowski E, O’Malley ME, Daneshmand M, Hu K, Bell JC, Hwang TH, Moon A, Breitbach CJ, Kirn DH, Bartlett DL. First-in-man study of western reserve strain oncolytic vaccinia virus: safety, systemic spread, and antitumor activity. Mol Ther. 2015 Jan;23(1):202-14. doi: 10.1038/mt.2014.194. Epub 2014 Oct 8. PubMed PMID: 25292189; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4426804.
Downs-Canner S, Van der Vliet WJ, Thoolen SJ, Boone BA, Zureikat AH, Hogg ME, Bartlett DL, Callery MP, Kent TS, Zeh HJ, Moser AJ. Robotic surgery for benign duodenal tumors. J Gastrointest Surg. 2015 Feb;19(2):306-12. doi: 10.1007/s11605-014-2668-0. Epub 2014 Oct 28. PubMed PMID: 25348238; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4529990.
Downs-Canner S, Ding Y, Magge DR, Jones H, Ramalingam L, Zureikat A, Holtzman M, Ahrendt S, Pingpank J, Zeh HJ, Bartlett DL, Choudry HA. A comparative analysis of postoperative pancreatic fistulas after surgery with and without hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemoperfusion. Ann Surg Oncol. 2015 May;22(5):1651-7. doi: 10.1245/s10434-014-4186-4. Epub 2014 Oct 28. PubMed PMID: 25348781; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4537169.
Downs-Canner S, Zenati M, Boone BA, Varley PR, Steve J, Hogg ME, Zureikat A, Zeh HJ, Lee KK. The indolent nature of pulmonary metastases from ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. J Surg Oncol. 2015 Jul;112(1):80-5. doi: 10.1002/jso.23943. Epub 2015 Jul 7. PubMed PMID: 26153355; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4509861.
Downs-Canner S, Magge D, Ravindranathan R, O’Malley ME, Francis L, Liu Z, Sheng Guo Z, Obermajer N, Bartlett DL. Complement Inhibition: A Novel Form of Immunotherapy for Colon Cancer. Ann Surg Oncol. 2016 Feb;23(2):655-62. doi: 10.1245/s10434-015-4778-7. Epub 2015 Aug 20. PubMed PMID: 26289805; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5733728.
Downs-Canner S, Guo ZS, Ravindranathan R, Breitbach CJ, O’Malley ME, Jones HL, Moon A, McCart JA, Shuai Y, Zeh HJ, Bartlett DL. Phase 1 Study of Intravenous Oncolytic Poxvirus (vvDD) in Patients With Advanced Solid Cancers. Mol Ther. 2016 Aug;24(8):1492-501. doi: 10.1038/mt.2016.101. Epub 2016 May 16. PubMed PMID: 27203445; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5023393.
Downs-Canner S, Berkey S, Delgoffe GM, Edwards RP, Curiel T, Odunsi K, Bartlett DL, Obermajer N. Suppressive IL-17A+Foxp3+ and ex-Th17 IL-17AnegFoxp3+ Treg cells are a source of tumour-associated Treg cells. Nat Commun. 2017 Mar 14;8:14649. doi: 10.1038/ncomms14649. PubMed PMID: 28290453; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5355894.
Downs-Canner S, Shuai Y, Ramalingam L, Pingpank JF, Holtzman MP, Zeh HJ, Bartlett DL, Choudry HA. Safety and efficacy of combined resection of colorectal peritoneal and liver metastases. J Surg Res. 2017 Nov;219:194-201. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2017.05.126. Epub 2017 Jun 29. PubMed PMID: 29078882; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5663460.
Downs-Canner S, Zabor EC, Wind T, Cobovic A, McCormick B, Morrow M, Heerdt A. Radiation Therapy After Breast-Conserving Surgery in Women 70 Years of Age and Older: How Wisely Do We Choose?. Ann Surg Oncol. 2019 Apr;26(4):969-975. doi: 10.1245/s10434-018-07151-4. Epub 2019 Feb 8. PubMed PMID: 30737670; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6613396.
Downs-Canner S, Heerdt A. Reply to “Downs-Canner S, Zabor EC, Wind T, Cobovic A, McCormick B, Morrow M, Heerdt A. Radiation Therapy After Breast-Conserving Surgery for Women 70 Years of Age or Older: How Wisely Do We Choose? In Regard to Downs-Canner et al.” by Hannoun-Levi, Jean Michel et al. (ASO-2019-07-1622). Ann Surg Oncol. 2019 Dec;26(Suppl 3):861-862. doi: 10.1245/s10434-019-07768-z. Epub 2019 Aug 30. PubMed PMID: 31471839.
Mamtani A, Nakhlis F, Downs-Canner S, Zabor EC, Morrow M, King TA, Van Zee KJ. Impact of Age on Locoregional and Distant Recurrence After Mastectomy for Ductal Carcinoma In Situ With or Without Microinvasion. Ann Surg Oncol. 2019 Dec;26(13):4264-4271. doi: 10.1245/s10434-019-07693-1. Epub 2019 Aug 22. PubMed PMID: 31440931; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6868329.
Downs-Canner SM, Gaber CE, Louie RJ, Strassle PD, Gallagher KK, Muss HB, Ollila DW. Nodal positivity decreases with age in women with early-stage, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. Cancer. 2020 Mar 15;126(6):1193-1201. doi: 10.1002/cncr.32668. Epub 2019 Dec 20. PubMed PMID: 31860136; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7369168.
Barrio AV, Downs-Canner S, Edelweiss M, Van Zee KJ, Cody HS 3rd, Gemignani ML, Pilewskie ML, Plitas G, El-Tamer M, Kirstein L, Capko D, Patil S, Morrow M. Microscopic Extracapsular Extension in Sentinel Lymph Nodes Does Not Mandate Axillary Dissection in Z0011-Eligible Patients. Ann Surg Oncol. 2020 May;27(5):1617-1624. doi: 10.1245/s10434-019-08104-1. Epub 2019 Dec 9. PubMed PMID: 31820212; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7145724.
Myers SP, Dasari M, Brown JB, Lumpkin ST, Neal MD, Abebe KZ, Chaumont N, Downs-Canner SM, Flanagan MR, Lee KK, Rosengart MR. Effects of Gender Bias and Stereotypes in Surgical Training: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Surg. 2020 Jul 1;155(7):552-560. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2020.1127. PubMed PMID: 32432669; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7240638.
Louie RJ, Gaber CE, Strassle PD, Gallagher KK, Downs-Canner SM, Ollila DW. Trends in Surgical Axillary Management in Early Stage Breast Cancer in Elderly Women: Continued Over-Treatment. Ann Surg Oncol. 2020 Sep;27(9):3426-3433. doi: 10.1245/s10434-020-08388-8. Epub 2020 Mar 25. PubMed PMID: 32215758; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7415703.
Portelli Tremont JN, Downs-Canner S, Maduekwe U. Delving deeper into disparity: The impact of health literacy on the surgical care of breast cancer patients. Am J Surg. 2020 Oct;220(4):806-810. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2020.05.009. Epub 2020 May 12. Review. PubMed PMID: 32444064; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7541468.
Aubry S, Strassle PD, Maduekwe U, Downs-Canner S. Disparities of Management of the Axilla in Women With Clinically Node Negative Breast Cancer. J Surg Res. 2020 Dec;256:13-22. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2020.05.100. Epub 2020 Jul 14. PubMed PMID: 32679224; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8353960.
Myers SP, Downs-Canner SM, Rosengart MR. Training in Surgery-Reply. JAMA Surg. 2021 Jan 1;156(1):103. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2020.4388. PubMed PMID: 33084887.
Grova MM, Strassle PD, Navajas EE, Gallagher KK, Ollila DW, Downs-Canner SM, Spanheimer PM. The Prognostic Value of Axillary Staging Following Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Ann Surg Oncol. 2021 Apr;28(4):2182-2190. doi: 10.1245/s10434-020-09152-8. Epub 2020 Sep 24. PubMed PMID: 32974693; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8269452.
Myers SP, Tzeng E, Downs-Canner SM. Addressing the Challenges Faced by Female Surgical Trainees Who Have Children During Protected Academic Periods. JAMA Surg. 2021 Apr 14;. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2021.0583. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 33852007.
Johnson JE, Strassle PD, de Oliveira GC, Agala CB, Spanheimer P, Gallagher K, Ollila D, Muss H, Downs-Canner S. Suboptimal therapy following breast conserving surgery in triple-negative and HER2-positive breast cancer patients. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2021 Sep;189(2):509-520. doi: 10.1007/s10549-021-06303-7. Epub 2021 Jun 26. PubMed PMID: 34176085; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8363582.
Iles K, Strassle PD, Agala CB, Button J, Downs-Canner S. Surgical Axillary Staging Before Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy: Who Gets It and Why We Should Avoid It. Ann Surg Oncol. 2021 Oct;28(10):5788-5797. doi: 10.1245/s10434-021-10628-4. Epub 2021 Aug 11. PubMed PMID: 34379251; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8620142.
Visit PubMed for a full listing of Dr. Downs-Canner’s journal articles. Pubmed is an online index of research papers and other articles from the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.
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Disclosures
Doctors and faculty members often work with pharmaceutical, device, biotechnology, and life sciences companies, and other organizations outside of MSK, to find safe and effective cancer treatments, to improve patient care, and to educate the health care community.
MSK requires doctors and faculty members to report (“disclose”) the relationships and financial interests they have with external entities. As a commitment to transparency with our community, we make that information available to the public.
Stephanie Downs-Canner discloses the following relationships and financial interests:
No disclosures meeting criteria for time period
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