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Laura J. Esserman, M.D.

Director of the Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center

Dr. Laura Esserman, a nationally known breast surgeon, is the director of the UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center at the Mount Zion campus. Her work is devoted to developing new, more effective ways to care for and empower breast cancer patients during treatment and to tailor treatments using biology, personal preference and constant feedback regarding outcomes of care.

Esserman earned an undergraduate degree at Harvard University and completed medical and surgical training at Stanford University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in breast oncology at Stanford in 1988 and earned a master's degree at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1993. She joined UCSF Medical Center in 1993. Esserman is a profesor of surgery and radiology in the UCSF School of Medicine.

Clinics

Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center
1600 Divisadero St., Second Floor
San Francisco, CA 94115
Phone: (415) 353-7070
Fax: (415) 353-7050

Hours: Monday to Friday
8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Cancer Risk Program
1600 Divisadero St., Second Floor
San Francisco, CA 94143-1714
Phone: (415) 885-7779
Fax: (415) 885-3787

Hours: Monday to Friday
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Conditions & Treatments

More about Laura J. Esserman

Additional Languages

Spanish

Education

Stanford University 1983

Residencies

Stanford University, General Surgery 1991

Selected Research and Publications

  1. Peled AW, Esserman LJ. Reply: the effects of acellular dermal matrix in expander-implant breast reconstruction after total skin-sparing mastectomy. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2013 Feb; 131(2):279e.
  2. Pass M, Volz S, Teng A, Esserman L, Belkora J. Physician behaviors surrounding the implementation of decision and communication AIDS in a breast cancer clinic: a qualitative analysis of staff intern perceptions. J Cancer Educ. 2012 Dec; 27(4):764-9.
  3. Esserman L, Ozanne E, Van't Veer L. Will early detection for breast cancer ever work? Clin Chem. 2013 Jan; 59(1):190-3.
  4. Yee D, Haddad T, Albain K, Barker A, Benz C, Boughey J, Buxton M, Jo Chien A, Demichele A, Dilts D, Elias A, Haluska P, Hogarth M, Hu A, Hytlon N, Kaplan HG, Kelloff GG, Khan Q, Lang J, Leyland-Jones B, Liu M, Nanda R, Northfelt D, Olopade OI, Park J, Parker B, Parkinson D, Pearson-White S, Perlmutter J, Pusztai L, Symmans F, Rugo H, Tripathy D, Wallace A, Wholley D, Van't Veer L, Berry DA, Esserman L. Adaptive trials in the neoadjuvant setting: a model to safely tailor care while accelerating drug development. J Clin Oncol. 2012 Dec 20; 30(36):4584-6.
  5. Khatcheressian JL, Hurley P, Bantug E, Esserman LJ, Grunfeld E, Halberg F, Hantel A, Henry NL, Muss HB, Smith TJ, Vogel VG, Wolff AC, Somerfield MR, Davidson NE. Breast cancer follow-up and management after primary treatment: american society of clinical oncology clinical practice guideline update. J Clin Oncol. 2013 Mar 1; 31(7):961-5.
  6. Wulfkuhle JD, Berg D, Wolff C, Langer R, Tran K, Illi J, Espina V, Pierobon M, Deng J, DeMichele A, Walch A, Bronger H, Becker I, Waldhör C, Höfler H, Esserman L. Molecular analysis of HER2 signaling in human breast cancer by functional protein pathway activation mapping. Clin Cancer Res. 2012 Dec 1; 18(23):6426-35.
  7. Lips EH, Mukhtar RA, Yau C, de Ronde JJ, Livasy C, Carey LA, Loo CE, Vrancken-Peeters MJ, Sonke GS, Berry DA, Van't Veer LJ, Esserman LJ, Wesseling J, Rodenhuis S, Shelley Hwang E. Lobular histology and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in invasive breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2012 Nov; 136(1):35-43.
  8. Petrillo LA, Wolf DM, Kapoun AM, Wang NJ, Barczak A, Xiao Y, Korkaya H, Baehner F, Lewicki J, Wicha M, Park JW, Spellman PT, Gray JW, van't Veer L, Esserman LJ. Xenografts faithfully recapitulate breast cancer-specific gene expression patterns of parent primary breast tumors. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2012 Oct; 135(3):913-22.
  9. Peled AW, Foster RD, Esserman LJ, Park CC, Hwang ES, Fowble B. Increasing the time to expander-implant exchange after postmastectomy radiation therapy reduces expander-implant failure. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2012 Sep; 130(3):503-9.
  10. Autier P, Esserman LJ, Flowers CI, Houssami N. Breast cancer screening: the questions answered. Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2012 Oct; 9(10):599-605.
  11. Bock M, Moore D, Hwang J, Shumay D, Lawson L, Hamolsky D, Esserman L, Rugo H, Chien AJ, Park J, Munster P, Melisko M. The impact of an electronic health questionnaire on symptom management and behavior reporting for breast cancer survivors. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2012 Aug; 134(3):1327-35.
  12. Cohen E, Belkora J, Tyler J, Schreiner J, Deering MJ, Grama L, Duggan B, Illi J, Pederson J, Anand A, Teng A, McCreary E, Moore D, Tripathy D, Hogarth M, Lieberman M, Park J, Esserman L. Adoption, acceptability, and accuracy of an online clinical trial matching website for breast cancer. J Med Internet Res. 2012; 14(4):e97.
  13. Adisa CA, Eleweke N, Alfred AA, Campbell MJ, Sharma R, Nseyo O, Tandon V, Mukhtar R, Greninger A, Risi JD, Esserman LJ. Biology of breast cancer in Nigerian women: a pilot study. Ann Afr Med. 2012 Jul-Sep; 11(3):169-75.
  14. Ellis MJ, Ding L, Shen D, Luo J, Suman VJ, Wallis JW, Van Tine BA, Hoog J, Goiffon RJ, Goldstein TC, Ng S, Lin L, Crowder R, Snider J, Ballman K, Weber J, Chen K, Koboldt DC, Kandoth C, Schierding WS, McMichael JF, Miller CA, Lu C, Harris CC, McLellan MD, Wendl MC, DeSchryver K, Allred DC, Esserman L, Unzeitig G, Margenthaler J, Babiera GV, Marcom PK, Guenther JM, Leitch M, Hunt K, Olson J, Tao Y, Maher CA, Fulton LL, Fulton RS, Harrison M, Oberkfell B, Du F, Demeter R, Vickery TL, Elhammali A, Piwnica-Worms H, McDonald S, Watson M, Dooling DJ, Ota D, Chang LW, Bose R, Ley TJ, Piwnica-Worms D, Stuart JM, Wilson RK, Mardis ER. Whole-genome analysis informs breast cancer response to aromatase inhibition. Nature. 2012 Jun 21; 486(7403):353-60.
  15. Hylton NM, Blume JD, Bernreuter WK, Pisano ED, Rosen MA, Morris EA, Weatherall PT, Lehman CD, Newstead GM, Polin S, Marques HS, Esserman LJ, Schnall MD. Locally advanced breast cancer: MR imaging for prediction of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy--results from ACRIN 6657/I-SPY TRIAL. Radiology. 2012 Jun; 263(3):663-72.
  16. Peled AW, Foster RD, Garwood ER, Moore DH, Ewing CA, Alvarado M, Hwang ES, Esserman LJ. The effects of acellular dermal matrix in expander-implant breast reconstruction after total skin-sparing mastectomy: results of a prospective practice improvement study. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2012 Jun; 129(6):901e-908e.
  17. Chang EI, Peled AW, Foster RD, Lin C, Zeidler KR, Ewing CA, Alvarado M, Hwang ES, Esserman LJ. Evaluating the feasibility of extended partial mastectomy and immediate reduction mammoplasty reconstruction as an alternative to mastectomy. Ann Surg. 2012 Jun; 255(6):1151-7.
  18. Fumagalli D, Bedard PL, Nahleh Z, Michiels S, Sotiriou C, Loi S, Sparano JA, Ellis M, Hylton N, Zujewski JA, Hudis C, Esserman L, Piccart M. A common language in neoadjuvant breast cancer clinical trials: proposals for standard definitions and endpoints. Lancet Oncol. 2012 Jun; 13(6):e240-8.
  19. Esserman LJ, Berry DA, DeMichele A, Carey L, Davis SE, Buxton M, Hudis C, Gray JW, Perou C, Yau C, Livasy C, Krontiras H, Montgomery L, Tripathy D, Lehman C, Liu MC, Olopade OI, Rugo HS, Carpenter JT, Dressler L, Chhieng D, Singh B, Mies C, Rabban J, Chen YY, Giri D, van 't Veer L, Hylton N. Pathologic complete response predicts recurrence-free survival more effectively by cancer subset: results from the I-SPY 1 TRIAL--CALGB 150007/150012, ACRIN 6657. J Clin Oncol. 2012 Sep 10; 30(26):3242-9.
  20. Mukhtar RA, Moore AP, Tandon VJ, Nseyo O, Twomey P, Adisa CA, Eleweke N, Au A, Baehner FL, Moore DH, McGrath MS, Olopade OI, Gray JW, Campbell MJ, Esserman LJ. Elevated Levels of Proliferating and Recently Migrated Tumor-associated Macrophages Confer Increased Aggressiveness and Worse Outcomes in Breast Cancer. Ann Surg Oncol. 2012 Nov; 19(12):3979-86.

Publications are derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and provided by UCSF Profiles, a service of the Clinical & Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at UCSF. Researchers can make corrections and additions by logging on to UCSF Profiles.