Mehra Golshan, MD

Mehra Golshan, MD, MBA, is a cancer surgeon and a leader in breast cancer care on a national and international level. In addition to caring for Yale Medicine patients, he serves as Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Surgical Services and Director of the Breast Cancer Program for the Yale Cancer Center, Smilow Cancer Hospital, and Smilow Cancer Hospital Care Centers. He is responsible for coordinating and expanding cancer surgery services throughout Yale New Haven Health and the Smilow network.

Dr. Golshan’s research has included authoring 125 peer-reviewed articles. He is a recipient of funding from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. His clinical research focuses on minimizing the extent of surgery required for women with breast cancer through the use of neoadjuvant therapies, which are used to shrink a tumor before surgery; novel intra-operative MRI imaging, which is performed during surgery; and techniques for analyzing the margin (or rim of normal tissue) around a tumor.  He has trained hundreds of surgeons who hold breast surgery faculty positions around the world.

Dr. Golshan, whose father is a retired head and neck surgeon and whose mother is a retired nurse, says he always wanted to be a cancer surgeon. He chose breast surgery partly because he was attracted by the team approach. For each new patient, Smilow brings together a team of medical oncologists, breast imagers, radiation oncologists, reconstruction surgeons, pathologists, genetics, program nurses, social workers, and a robust research program. “I work closely with so many colleagues that inspire me to be a better physician, scientist, and person,” he says.

As a surgeon, Dr. Golshan’s goals are to perform the least invasive form of surgery tailored for each patient, and to make sure every single patient is treated based on her or his personal, physical, and emotional needs. 

Patients who seek treatment at Smilow should feel confident that they will receive the best possible care, Dr. Golshan says. “A cancer diagnosis can be intensely personal and treatment can be a difficult road for the patients and families. I am quite familiar, through personal experience, with the ups and downs of this journey, and I promise every patient that I and my colleagues are absolutely dedicated to providing the most excellent, compassionate, patient-focused care and treatment here at Yale.”