Ranjana Chaterji, DO is a board-certified general surgeon specializing in the comprehensive, minimally invasive and compassionate treatment of benign and malignant breast disease. With a passion for women’s health and healing, Dr. Chaterji completed a fellowship in breast surgery at Northern Westchester Hospital’s Institute of Aesthetic Surgery and the Breast Institute, which included training in reconstructive and plastic surgery. Being able to stay with her patients through the duration of their care is something she finds incredibly fulfilling, and she’s often inspired and humbled by her patients’ resilience and strength in the face of hard diagnoses. As the daughter of immigrants, Dr. Chaterji also takes a special interest in ensuring clear communication between doctors and patients and wants to empower patient-centered decision-making. That’s why she’s currently leading a clinical trial—one of only a handful of its kind in the nation—which looks into improving patient-doctor communication and helping patients fully understand, and choose between, all their care options. And when it comes to breast cancer, Dr. Chaterji explains there can be a lot of options, in part because technology has come such a long way. “The breast cancer treatments we have now are not the ones our mothers or grandmothers had,” she says. In fact, Northern Westchester Hospital—where Dr. Chaterji serves as the director of quality at the Breast Institute—was the first hospital in New York to use Magtrace, a technology that helps certain breast cancer patients avoid lymph node surgery. Dr. Chaterji also emphasizes the importance of getting support beyond just clinical treatments. She recommends a holistic approach to medicine and works closely with the integrative center. This way, patients can also benefit from acupuncture, Reiki, nutritionists, exercise and more. She believes collaborating with her team and others at Northwell helps simplify the patient process and gets people the care they need. “A lot of patients tell me they feel at ease,” she says. “Because they know we’re here for them.”
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