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Education

Mel Silverstein, MD, FACS

Medical Director, Hoag Breast Center

  • Gross Family Foundation Endowed Chair in Oncoplastic Breast Surgery
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Dr. Melvin J. Silverstein is the Medical Director of Hoag Breast Center and the Gross Family Foundation Endowed Chair in Oncoplastic Breast Surgery.

Dr. Silverstein is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the Albany Medical College. Following his surgical residency at the Boston City Hospital, he completed a three-year fellowship in surgical oncology and served as Assistant Professor of Surgery and Oncology at UCLA School of Medicine, as well as Senior Researcher at the UCLA School of Public Health.

Previously, Dr. Silverstein founded The Breast Center in Van Nuys, California in 1979 and served as its Medical Director and Senior Surgical Oncologist until 1998. The Van Nuys Breast Center was the first free-standing breast center in the United States and it served as a model for breast center development and operation, having been visited by physicians from all over the United States and from more than 20 foreign countries.

Additionally, Dr. Silverstein served as Professor of Surgery with Tenure at The Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, Director of the Harold E. and Henrietta C. Lee Breast Center at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chief of the Breast Service at the Los Angeles County USC Medical Center, Director of the Breast Fellowship Program, and holds the Henrietta C. Lee Chair in Breast Cancer Research.

Dr. Silverstein is the author of more than 250 scientific papers, book chapters and abstracts. In addition, he has written four books dealing with breast cancer, including the first major textbook on ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) of the breast. He developed the Van Nuys Classification for Ductal Carcinoma in Situ of the Breast as well as the USC Van Nuys Prognostic Index. Both tools are used all over the world for DCIS prognosis and treatment.