Sloan Kettering Adds Surgical Staff

Local cancer patients will have an easier time getting to their pre-surgical and post-surgical appointments, now that two surgeons have been added to Commack’s Memorial Sloan Kettering staff.

The addition of breast surgeon Melissa Pilewskie, MD, and genitourinary surgeon Raul Parra, MD, offers area residents the opportunity to make pre- and post-surgical appointments in a more convenient location closer to home. While the surgeries will still be performed at the Manhattan location, patients will no longer have to trek into the city multiple times for their before- and after- surgical appointments.

“We are pleased to offer our Long Island residents more complete care in their local community,” said Ephraim Casper, MD, Interim Medical Director for Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Regional Care Network. “ In addition to surgery, which remains a primary treatment for many cancers, there is often a need for chemotherapy or radiation, follow-up care, and support services – all of which we offer at our Commack facility. Patients are now able to meet with their entire care team – surgeon, medical oncologist, and radiation oncologist – in one visit.”

Doctors Pilewskie and Parra will see patients in both Commack and Manhattan, where all surgeries are performed. 

Dr. Pilewskie is a breast surgeon who performs all aspects of breast cancer surgery, including sentinel lymph node biopsies and nipple-sparing mastectomies.

Her previous research has addressed the impact of MRI on surgical and long-term outcomes in women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), the effect of margin status on recurrence in triple-negative breast cancers, the patterns of MRI use in elderly breast cancer patients, and the effects of a recent pregnancy on breast cancer subtype. Her current research is focused on the development and implementation of standardized care plans for women at high risk for breast cancer through the Special Surveillance Breast Program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, the goal of which is to have personalized screening protocols for specific high-risk groups, including women with a BRCA gene mutation, a strong family history of breast cancer, or a personal history of a high-risk breast lesion.

Dr. Parra is a surgical oncologist with a particular interest in minimally invasive robotic surgery to treat cancers of the genitourinary system, such as prostate, kidney, bladder, and testicular cancers.

He was a pioneer in developing minimally invasive surgery for urologic cancers, and performed the first laparoscopic removal of bladder cancer in the world. In addition, Dr. Parra offers one of the few dedicated active surveillance clinics in the country, where men with prostate cancer can be followed, counseled, and treated if necessary by a multidisciplinary team of specialized physicians. Since the majority of men currently diagnosed with prostate cancer present with relatively small cancers, many can be watched closely and treated only when the cancer progresses or changes over time. Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s experience demonstrates that many men will never need treatment and, for those who do, robotic surgery or other approaches can still be performed safely.