Laura Esserman, MD

Dr. Esserman is a surgeon and breast cancer oncology specialist, and is the Director of the Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). In 1996, she started the Center of Excellence for Breast Cancer Care to integrate clinical care and research, automate tools for the capture of patient and clinical data, and develop systems to tailor care to biology, patient preference, and performance. Dr. Esserman is nationally and internationally known as a leader in the field of breast cancer as well as the problems of overdiagnosis and overtreatment as a consequence of screening, calling attention to, as well as developing solutions to address these problems. As a thought leader, she has published over 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals, has been interviewed dozens of times, including by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and Health Magazine. She is the Principal Investigator of the I-SPY TRIAL program, a multi-site neoadjuvant clinical trial that has evolved into a model for translational research and innovation in clinical trial design. Dr. Esserman has recently launched a University of California-wide breast cancer initiative called the Athena Breast Health Network, a project designed to follow 150,000 women from screening through treatment and outcomes, incorporating the latest in molecular testing and web-based tools into the course of care. She has received numerous awards including the Weizmann Institute of Science, Women in Science Award, and was named by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.