[AUDIO LOGO] My name is Lavinia Anzai. I am a plastic surgeon. I specialize in breast reconstruction primarily, and head and neck reconstruction, as well as lymphedema surgery. I also perform general plastic surgery procedures, including body contouring procedures and breast reductions and things of that nature.

I chose to become a plastic surgeon because I fell in love with the creativity and diversity of the field. Plastic surgery is one of those few specialties that really gives you the opportunity to work with patients of all ages, and to work from head to toe all over the body. And so as a reconstructive surgeon, I get to exercise my problem-solving skills every single day, and I really get to give back something that was taken away from a patient, which to me is a really rewarding part of my job.

I chose to work at the University of Chicago because I have a real passion for lymphedema surgery. UChicago is one of the few centers in the United States that has a high-volume successful lymphedema program. And a big reason for that is because the university pours a ton of resources into the program here, into developing it and maintaining it and making sure it's successful. And so because of that, we have the opportunity, together with our lymphedema therapists, to offer excellent medical care to our patients, but also surgical treatments to help manage their disease.

I feel that I do the best for patients when I have a really good understanding of what their goals are. So I think that preoperative consultation is really important so I can really delineate what they're looking for. As a reconstructive surgeon, I'm usually tasked with the responsibility to give a patient back something that they lost through either a trauma or an oncologic process. And so my being able to understand what their goals are and what their expectations are, and my being able to share what I can actually offer that person and making sure those two things are in line, can really help to make sure that the patient's happy post-operatively.

And I really think that those patients that are the happiest are those that have a strong understanding of the surgery they're going to have and a good expectations of their outcomes. And that way when they come out of surgery, I feel that I've done what they've wanted me to do, and we have those goals in line. Plastic surgery is extremely creative, and I think plastic surgery is a unique field because it gives us the opportunity to give back the function of a patient. So, for example, somebody who has lost their breast after breast cancer, we give you back your breast, which can give you an overall sense of balance, but it's also an extremely aesthetic part of your life. And so we want to make it as beautiful as possible as well.

So I really think plastic surgery is this incredible marriage between functional and cosmetic care that really they need to work together hand-in-hand for you to have a successful outcome. And that's where I draw my passions from that field.

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