Elissa J. Santoro, M.D., is the founder of the Breast Care and Treatment Center in Livingston, New Jersey and has more than four decades of achievements in her specialty. Not only is she a well-renowned specialist in breast surgical oncology, Dr. Santoro has been selected as the number one oncologist by Patient Preferred Magazine. As a board certified surgeon, with great success with patients, her compassion and expertise has led to her extraordinary rating by patients.
The road to Dr. Santoro’s medical career began at The College of Saint Elizabeth in Convent Station, New Jersey, with an A.B. in chemistry and honors in Theology. In 1965, she graduated from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, where she was awarded a Doctor of Medicine Degree and earned a Student Research Fellowship in Pathology and recognition for excellence in Pathology. Dr. Santoro completed her General Surgical Residency at Saint Vincent’s Hospital in New York City, where she was the first woman to be named Chief Surgical Resident. While at the hospital, she was awarded an American Cancer Society Clinical Fellowship. From 1970 to 1971, she received a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Cancer Training from the National Institute of Health at New York Medical College.
In 1976, Dr. Santoro devoted her practice exclusively to breast surgical oncology and practices at RWJ Barnabas in Livingston. A Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery, she maintains active memberships in many professional societies and among the various offices Dr. Santoro has held are Chairman of the NJ Division of the American Cancer Society; President of the NJ American Cancer Society; Board of Trustees, College of Saint Elizabeth and Medical Advisory Board of the Susan G. Komen Cancer Foundation.
Dr. Santoro has also appeared on several televised educational programs regarding breast health issues and has written and co-authored many publications related to breast diseases and treatments. Additionally, Dr. Santoro worked with NJ State legislators to increase funds for breast cancer research and to develop a Woman’s Health Department. She received the First Annual Christine Todd Whitman Award for Outstanding Women in the Field of Medicine. It should come as no surprise that Dr. Santoro is included in 2018 edition of The Leading Physicians of the World. She attributes her success to an outstanding Sicilian upbringing, but also to her persistence of becoming a doctor from a young age. In her free time, Dr. Santoro enjoys traveling, hot air ballooning and reading.
