What Every Woman Should Know About Breast and Ovarian Cancers

Four expert physicians will discuss the latest research on breast and ovarian cancers, new guidelines for screening and methods of early detection and treatment on Wednesday, May 18, at 7 pm in the Westport Library’s McManus Room. The program is free and open to the public. The doctors are Dr. Thomas Rutherford, gynecologic oncologist; Dr. Kevin Jain, hematologist and oncologist; Dr. George F. Zahrah, hematologist and oncologist; and Dr. Valerie Staradub, breast cancer surgeon. Community partner for the program is Western Connecticut Health Network (WCHN).

Dr. Thomas Rutherford is a board-certified gynecological oncologist and one of the nation's leading authorities on gynecologic cancers. Prior to WCHN, Dr. Rutherford practiced at Yale University Gynecologic Oncology. Most recently, he served as Professor of Gynecologic Oncology and Director of Gynecologic Oncology Fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine, a position he held for 12 years. During that time, he played a key leadership role in the development of the gynecologic oncology department, including growing a research division that encompassed basic and translational research. A recognized researcher, he has focused on prevention, early detection and treatment of ovarian cancer and other gynecologic malignancies. He has authored more than 100 scientific journal articles, worked to isolate the stem cell associated with ovarian cancer and developed the standard of care for the treatment of ovarian cancer. 

Dr. Kevin R Jain joined WCHN in 2015. He brings more than 13 years of experience as a clinician specializing in hematology and oncology, caring for patients with all solid tumor types, including specialization in patients with gynecological malignancies and breast cancer. He was previously employed as a clinician at Yale University School of Medicine, where he worked at the Smilow Cancer Hospital. He was part of the Yale Smilow Cancer Hospital Clinical Research Working Group and the Greater New Haven Physician Council. He was affiliated with Griffin Hospital, where he was a member of the Lung Cancer Screening Committee and the Breast Cancer Institutional Certification Committee, and was an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Rhode Island.

Dr. George F. Zahrah is a board certified oncologist and hematologist who has been in practice for more than 15 years. He received his degree from the University of Ancona, Italy, and completed a Fellowship in Medical Oncology and Hematology at Brown University. Dr. Zahrah currently serves as the Medical Director at Norwalk Hospital for Cancer Genetics and serves as an investigator on several cancer clinical trials. He is also a clinical assistant professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. He was instrumental in starting the intraperitoneal chemotherapy program at Norwalk Hospital, and specializes in treating cancers of the breast and gynecological cancers.

Dr. Valerie Staradub has been the Medical Director of the Breast Care Program at WCHN since her arrival in 2010. She completed a Fellowship in Breast Surgery at Northwestern University, and her practice has been dedicated to breast surgery and the management of breast disease for more than 15 years. She is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor in Surgery at the University of Vermont School Of Medicine, where she is also the Danbury surgical site clerkship director for medical students from UVM as well as Ross and AUC Medical Schools. Prior to joining WCHN, she was on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. She cares for women with benign and malignant diseases of the breast and she chairs Danbury Hospital’s Multidisciplinary Breast Tumor Board. She was the first surgeon in Connecticut to perform radioactive seed localized excision of image-detected breast lesions, bringing this innovative technology to WCHN.