The icy, cold stereotypical image of surgeons, with scalpel in hand, interested only in cutting on people is a misnomer that Jovita Oruwari, MD, FACS works to assuage each day through her work as a surgical oncologist.
“As you know, surgeons in general don’t have good reputations – it’s all about cutting and leaving and moving on to the next patient,” Oruwari said.
“But as a breast cancer surgeon, you have got to get to know your patients, from day one and you get to stay with them as they go through the rest of their treatment and through all the trials and tribulations. I truly enjoyed that – getting to see them triumph over the breast cancer.”
During her training in general surgery in New Jersey, Oruwari encountered women with breast cancer. The experience compelled her medical vocation.
“I was fortunate to intern under a female breast surgeon whose work was just quite amazing to me,” Oruwari said. “The way that she treated her patients, her level of concern, her level of care is what really enamored me to this particular specialty.”
Oruwari is a partner at the Mercy Clinic St. Louis Cancer and Breast Institute in Ballwin, Mo. As a breast surgeon, Oruwari specializes in a spectrum of breast health issues, from pain, rashes, benign lumps, nipple discharges to cancers.
“I treat all breast problems, and about 30 percent of it happens to be breast cancer,” Oruwari said.
She’s been in practice since 2001.
“A lot more women are going into surgery and that’s a great thing,” she said. “Women bring into the practice of surgery a lot of humanity, a lot of emotion. Not to say that the men don’t do the same, but a lot of what you used to watch on TV growing up has changed.”
Oruwari said preventative breast health is very important, not only for cosmetic reasons but also for health reasons.
“Women need, from a young age, to be aware of changes breasts can go through,” she said. “It’s a matter of learning your breasts and knowing enough to know when normal changes become abnormal.”
Breasts can get bigger or smaller depending on the stages of a woman’s menstrual cycle, aging and menopause, Oruwari explained. During menopause, fibrous glands are replaced by fatty tissue and breasts will naturally start to distend, she added. Even breast pain at certain times is not uncommon.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s something bad, but it means it’s something that definitely needs to be looked at,” she said.
She often speaks to community groups, churches and schools about breast health.
“What I definitely don’t want to see in 2013 in my practice is someone that comes in with a neglected or an advanced breast cancer, because it should not happen today,” Oruwari said.
“There are so many resources and so much awareness of breast cancer that we should know all the right things to do.”
Oruwari graduated from medical school from the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark, New Jersey and completed a fellowship program at Hasbro Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. She earned a bachelor of arts in chemistry and zoology at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey.
Oruwari is a fellow in the American College of Surgeons, the Society of Surgical Oncology, the Association of Breast Surgeons, Mound City Medical Forum and the National Medical Association. She also serves on the board of the St. Louis Crisis Nursery.
Oruwari is a native of Nigeria and grew up in New Jersey. She was recruited out of her fellowship to come to St. Louis. Her husband, Dr. Patrick Oruwari, is a psychiatrist. The couple has two children, a 16-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son.
“My family is very much a part of who I am today, starting with my great grandparents and my grandparents in Nigeria who encouraged me and pushed me to medicine, and my parents, who continued that and always stressed the importance of education,” Oruwari said.
“Going through medical school is not easy, and without their support I don’t think I could have done it.”
Being married, having and nurturing children while going through surgical residency was definitely not easy either, Oruwari added, quickly crediting her spouse for always being by her side.
She said, “I think it’s important for anyone who wants to do this is that they need a village, basically, to get them through it.”
