Maria Nelson, MD

Maria Nelson, M.D. is a highly accomplished surgeon with a wealth of expertise in the field of breast surgery. She is the Chief of the Division of Breast, Endocrine, and Soft Tissue Surgery and an Associate Professor of Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. She earned her masters and medical degree from the University of South Dakota and completed her residency training in General Surgery at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. Afterwards, she completed her fellowship training in Breast Surgical Oncology at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Nelson also serves as the Associate Program Director of the USC Breast Surgical Oncology Fellowship Program. Her clinical focus is in benign and malignant breast disease, and her current research interests include the diagnostic role of breast imaging techniques and the complex nature of decision-making in breast cancer care.

• 5th Annual Lynne Sage Breast Cancer Symposium Achievement Award, 2013
• Dr. Robert and Ruth Quinn Scholarship, 2007
• University of South Dakota Medical School Scholarship, 2006
• American Society of Hematology Student Research Award, 2005

• Axillary lymph node recurrence following wire-directed sentinel lymph node dissection for breast cancer patients with biopsy-proven axillary metastases prior to neoadjuvant chemotherapy at a safety net medical center J Surg Oncol. 2023 Jul; 128(1):9-15. . View in PubMed
• Integration of Universal Germline Genetic Testing for All New Breast Cancer Patients Ann Surg Oncol. 2023 Feb; 30(2):1017-1025. . View in PubMed
• Factors associated with relapse-free survival after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer at a safety net medical center Am J Surg. 2022 03; 223(3):539-542. . View in PubMed
• MRI does not predict pathologic complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer J Surg Oncol. 2019 Nov; 120(6):903-910. . View in PubMed
• Are we overtreating intraductal papillomas? J Surg Res. 2018 11; 231:387-394.. View in PubMed

• Matsuo, Koji
• Haiman, Christopher
• Lenz, Heinz-Josef
• Sener, Stephen
• Ulaner, Gary
• Lerman, Caryn
• Daneshmand, Siamak