Larchmont Chronicle: Cedars-Sinai’s First Female Chair of Surgery Has Big Plans

The Larchmont Chronicle recently interviewed Cristina Ferrone, MD, the chair of the Jim and Eleanor Randall Department of Surgery at Cedars-Sinai and the Linda and Jim Lippman Chair in Surgical Oncology, about her work as a surgical oncologist and scientific investigator focused on pancreatic, liver and bile duct cancers.

Ferrone, the first female chair of Surgery at Cedars-Sinai, told the Larchmont Chronicle that she loves her job, which includes overseeing nearly 100 faculty surgeons and physicians, performing surgeries, leading the largest pancreatic cancer clinical trial in North America and collaborating across disciplines to help people facing cancer.

“We have a great multidisciplinary approach to cancer patients,” she said, adding that pancreatic cancer patients can be seen by a medical, radiation and surgical oncologist, a social worker and a geneticist—all on the same day.

“We decrease the time from the clinic visit to the first treatment to seven days,” Ferrone told the Larchmont Chronicle. “The national average is over a month.”

Ferrone said that collaboration with loved ones also can help patients achieve better outcomes.

“Ideally, patients would never come to appointments alone, because it’s a lot of information,” Ferrone told the Larchmont Chronicle. “There’s no question that patients that have family support do better. They have less anxiety and are better able to tolerate treatments.”

Ferrone added that her goal is to help Cedars-Sinai Medical Center be the best hospital in the U.S.

“It’s already a fantastic place, but you can always aim higher,” she said.

Click here to read the complete article from the Larchmont Chronicle.