In late April, Dr. Tristen Park, assistant professor of surgery and oncologist specializing in breast cancer at the Yale School of Medicine, participated in the Global Breast Cancer Conference (GBCC) in Seoul, South Korea. As an active member of the international scientific committee for GBCC, Park shared her expertise in breast cancer treatments and research at one of the largest conferences focused on the topic in Asia.

GBCC brings together expert researchers and healthcare providers as well as advocacy groups and policymakers to collaborate and improve awareness on breast cancer treatment and solutions. This year’s conference garnered over 2,500 attendees representing 38 different countries.

Park was one among a team of five YSM faculty members who traveled to Seoul to speak at the conference. Her peers included Dr. Mehra Golshan, Dr. Ian E. Krop, Dr. Meena Moran, and Dr. Eric Schneider. Park chose to specialize in the treatment of breast cancer and breast diseases because treatment discovery in the field was so promising. Park says, “Breast cancer care has revolutionized to the point where many of my patients won’t die from breast cancer. One of my goals as a breast surgeon is to make sure they understand this, so that their diagnosis is not as scary.” As a healthcare provider, she offers the most advanced techniques in breast surgery, and is an advocate of nipple sparing mastectomy, hidden scar placement and oncoplastic techniques.

During the 3-day conference, Park gave a lecture on the surgical controversies in the treatment of elderly patients and co-moderated a robust, 2-hour debate on controversial topics in breast cancer treatment along with Han-Byoel Lee, associate professor of surgery from Seoul National University College of Medicine. Golshan moderated and discussed the cutting-edge topic of surgical management of breast cancer after neoadjuvant systemic therapy. In addition, Park’s mentee and Yale surgery resident, Leah Kim, received the GBCC young investigator award for presenting her original resarch titled, “National patterns of same day mastectomy discharge in the United States.”

Park and Golshan also established robust educational collaborations with a bilateral exchange program of breast surgeons between Yale and Seoul National University and Asan Medical Center in April 2022. The program includes an immersive, multidisciplinary one-month observership at Yale and exciting collaborative research projects. “From this partnership, we aim to learn more about how each country treats their cancer patients, and start research collaborations that combine the unique expertise of the two centers and countries resepectively,” says Park. By the end of 2023, the program will have hosted four Korean breast surgery fellows.

As Park actively collaborates with leading Korean cancer centers and GBCC, she hopes to further develop this important educational exchange and research collaboration between South Korea and Yale.

~~~

To learn more about Dr. Park’s research and surgical care, visit the Yale School of Medicine website.