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Dr. Karen Arthur of Chappaqua is living her commitment to the health of every woman in Westchester County, not just the ones at high risk of developing breast cancer.
"Theres an additional need in the community for a place where the average woman without a breast problem can go for an evaluation, said Arthur, director of The Breast Institute at Yorktown, the County's first one-stop shop for breast cancer prevention, evaluation and treatment.
The Institute was created to be that place, she said. Scheduled to be fully operational in January, it will be where women can go for everything from instruction on performing a breast self-exam, to regularly scheduled mammograms, ultrasounds and other diagnostic procedures or techniques.
We want to educate women so we can find breast cancer as early as possible, Arthur said. We cant prevent it, but there are things an average woman can do to reduce her risk.
The Institute, she said as an example, will offer genetic testing to women with a history of breast cancer in the family. If cancer is detected and surgery recommended, Dr. Arthur and other members of the staff can consult on site with plastic surgeons and other experts about breast reconstruction and post-operative recovery tailored to each woman's needs.
For now, the institute is working only with high-risk patients referred by their doctors.
Dr. Arthur became the Institute's medical director last year. She had been Chief of the Department of Surgery at The Westchester Medical Group since 2004 and, before that, Chief of the Department of Surgery at Northeast Permanente Medical Group in California.
Dr. Arthur completed her premedical training at Tufts University, earning her medical degree from Mt. Sinai College of Medicine in New York in 1974.
She has lived in Chappaqua for the last nine years, where she raised her two daughters, Jarrett and Devin.
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