Q & A with Anne Wallace

Anne Wallace, M.D., is a professor of surgery, chief of the Division of Breast Surgery and director of the UC San Diego Comprehensive Breast Health Center. She began her career at UC San Diego as a plastic surgery resident and, since then, has performed surgeries in numerous fields and built UC San Diego’s breast program from the ground up.

May 29, 2025 | Interview by Samantha Phan

How did you end up at UC San Diego?

My husband and I matched together in Washington, DC for our general surgery residencies, where I stayed for five years. I went back and forth with what I liked. As a chief resident, I did 142 vascular surgery cases, as well as a lot of thoracic. But I had always loved plastic surgery, so I did an additional plastic surgery residency here at UC San Diego.

Why did you pursue surgical oncology alongside plastic surgery?

During my plastic surgery residency, UC San Diego was trying to build a breast program. My chairman came up to me one day and said that, because I seemed so good at breast cancer surgeries, I should do an oncology fellowship. So, I did my microvascular cancer fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center, where they let me do rotations with surgical oncology. I then returned to UC San Diego to do both plastic surgery and surgical oncology.

You are currently the director of the Comprehensive Breast Health Center. Tell us a bit about that.

The Comprehensive Breast Health Center has a shared governance within UC San Diego. We work with a lot of different UC San Diego departments and divisions. Because of this, I have always viewed myself as the glue for the team who will fight for the entire breast health group. For example, even if I am not the chief of the Division of Hematology- Oncology, who we collaborate terrifically with, I will fight for resources for the medical oncologists. We could not do any of this without the entire group of differing fields. There is no ego in surgery.

What is it like being a breast surgeon?

To this day, I don't envision myself as just a breast surgeon. Over the last couple of decades, I did a lot of different surgeries, including melanoma surgeries and head and neck surgeries. I did plastic surgery call for years. I've evolved based on the needs of the hospital and the expertise of incoming surgeons. I would say that I was challenged to build the breast program. But, along the way, I did a lot of other things.

How have patient interactions shaped the way you practice?

I’ve learned to have even more compassion. When you look at someone’s care from a place of understanding, you know what their fear is and why they are behaving the way they are. Knowing that everyone takes information differently and learning how to be compassionate makes you a better doctor.

More recently, I started doing gender-affirming top surgery for transgender patients. I see a person I did surgery on graduate from college, get a great job and feel good about themselves. Our transgender patients have taught me that there is a fluidity in all of us, and humans are not just one thing or another.

What are you most proud of in your time at UC San Diego?

Probably building the breast health team. In the beginning, we were a very small group, and we were constantly having to fight for everybody. It’s less of that now because everybody has become a good leader. I am proud to see our surgeons building their practices and careers without needing me to always lead. They are all amazing professionals, and if I wasn’t here, the breast program would continue to thrive and be great.

Is there anything that you would like to say before we end the Q&A?

UC San Diego is really a fabulous place. We have these beautiful facilities and some of the smartest people in the world. I’m tremendously proud of UC San Diego’s strategy to build bigger, want better and push to the cutting edge, as well as our commitment to treating and caring for everybody. It’s an honor to take care of patients and it’s an honor to be with the brilliant physicians and scientists we have.