Associate Clinical Professor of Surgery
David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA
Dr. Deanna J. Attai is an Associate Clinical Professor of Surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles. After completing her undergraduate education at Vassar College, she graduated with honors from the Georgetown University School of Medicine, and then completed her General Surgery Residency at Georgetown University Hospital. Dr. Attai is a Past-President of the American Society of Breast Surgeons, and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. She is certified by the American Society of Breast Surgeons for the performance of breast ultrasound.
Dr. Attai was an early adopter of social media for professional and patient education. She currently serves as the social media editor for the for the Annals of Surgical Oncology and co-chairs the Collaborative for Outcomes in Social Media in Oncology (COSMO) research group. She has served as social media editor for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Journal of Oncology practice and as a member of the ASCO Social Media Working Group. She has been an invited speaker at national meetings of ASCO, the American College of Surgeons, the American Society of Breast Surgeons, the American Medical Association, and the Association of Academic Surgeons discussing the use of social media for patient education and support, professional education and oncology research.
Her research focuses on the use of social media to facilitate patient partnerships to address various aspects of the patient experience. Recent publications have evaluated endocrine therapy for breast cancer treatment, the male breast cancer experience, patient preferences for survivorship care, and the experience of women who “go flat” after mastectomy.
Dr. Attai has participated as co-moderator in the weekly Breast Cancer Social Media (#BCSM) Twitter chats since the community formed in 2011. #BCSM is the longest-running cancer patient community on Twitter and has received national media attention with profiles in USA Today, Medscape, CURE magazine, and Forbes Online. She is frequently sought out by local and national media for her thoughts on breast disease, diagnosis and treatment, and interviews and commentary have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Forbes Online, National Public Radio, CBS News, and VOGUE.