2012 Outstanding AlumnA Award Winner
As a child, Dr. Kelly Hunt was fascinated by childhood diseases like the measles and mumps. “The disease processes and my interactions with my doctors always intrigued me,” she says.
And while she secretly wanted to be a singer, Dr. Hunt knew her calling was medicine. She received her medical degree with highest honors from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in 1986. From 1986 to 1993, she fulfilled her postgraduate training at the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine. From 1994 to 1996, she was a surgical oncology fellow at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
She joined the faculty of MD Anderson in 1996. Along with being professor of surgery in the Department of Surgical Oncology, Dr. Hunt is also the chief of the Surgical Breast Section in the department and the associate medical director at the Nellie B. Connally Breast Center at MD Anderson. She has an active role in the Breast Cancer Research Program, which is a collaboration of 84 physicians and scientists.
With a focus on breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, Dr. Hunt is one of the pioneers in establishing the technique of sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy in breast cancer. She helped to introduce the technique for patients at MD Anderson as a new faculty member and developed a clinical database resulting in a number of reports on patient selection, technique, and long-term outcomes. The database includes more than 5,000 patients and has been used by numerous fellows and investigators at MD Anderson.
She continues to make a significant impact on the evaluation of SLN surgery after chemotherapy. She demonstrated that SLN surgery after chemotherapy provides an improved assessment of response and results in fewer lymph node dissections for patients who have a complete response after chemotherapy. This approach resulted in decreased morbidity and improved quality of life, and has become the standard of treatment at MD Anderson.
As chair of the Breast Committee for the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG), Dr. Hunt is involved in the development of practice-changing clinical trials. Through her work with ACOSOG, Dr. Hunt has had the opportunity to mentor young investigators in clinical and translational research studies.
As a clinician-scientist and a leader in national clinical trials, Dr. Hunt has made a significant impact on how breast cancer patients are treated, but even with such noteworthy strides, she says finding a cure for cancer is at the top of her “I’ve always wanted to do that” list.
She hopes to one day mark some personal things off her list too, like traveling to the French Polynesia, Finland, Sweden, and Scandinavia. A self-proclaimed good cook, Dr. Hunt enjoys spending time with her husband of 22 years, Stephen Swisher, and their two children.
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