Primary Specialty
Breast Surgeon
Dr. Patricia Lynn Clark is a board-certified general surgeon whose practice is exclusively dedicated to treatment of breast cancer, high risk, and benign breast disease. She is internationally sought out as a surgical educator, lecturer, researcher whose work has been published in leading academic journals, mentor, and who has developed and chaired multiple oncoplastic surgery courses. Dr Clark currently chairs the American College of Surgeons ‘Fundamentals of Oncoplastic Surgery Course”. She is a leading expert in the field of oncoplastic surgery, an approach where lumpectomy defects are reconstructed at the time of cancer surgery to avoid permanent dents and deformities.
Breast cancer treatment is highly individualized, influenced by variations in the genetic mutations of each person’s cancer, size of the tumor, breast shape and size, family history, risk factors, predisposition and more. Overtreatment or undertreatment must be avoided by understanding tumor biology. She uses her undergraduate concentration in molecular genetics to help patients understand what makes their cancer unique so they can make more informed decisions prior to choosing surgical options in shared decision making.
Since coming to Phoenix, Dr Clark has been recognized multiple times by her peers as a Phoenix Magazine TOP DOC and has participated in research that changed national practice. She began her surgical career treating knife and gunshot wounds as a trauma surgeon in East St Louis, Illinois while also seeing general surgery and breast patients. Additional training in plastic surgery enabled her incorporate oncoplastic surgery techniques such as modifications of breast reduction and mastopexy to prevent deformities at the time of lumpectomy/breast conservation. She moved on to the Chicago area where these techniques were additionally refined prior to relocating to Scottsdale. In Scottdale, Dr Clark regularly teams with some of the country’s best reconstructive plastic surgeons of the breast to offer leading edge procedures often not available in other parts of the US. These include nipple reinnervation at the time of nipple sparing mastectomy, DEIP flap autologous mastectomy reconstruction, direct to implant reconstructions, and a broad variety of simple and oncoplastic techniques to reconstruct lumpectomy defects. Dr Clark’s international experience allows her to implement procedures developed on other continents that may not yet be mainstream in the US.
Dr. Clark’s previous administrative roles include Chairman of Surgery Departments, Cancer Liaison Physician for the American College of Surgeons, and service on the Cancer Committee of several hospitals. See CV for service and publications. She is an active member of the American Society of Breast Surgeons, the Society of Surgical Oncology, and the American College of Surgeons.
Prior to entering the medical profession, she was a professional quarter horse trainer for 20 years, with many lifelong friends in the industry living in the Scottsdale area. Her paintings have also been featured in Phoenix Magazine
Read more about Dr. Clark here.
