New faculty spotlight: Juan Santamaria, MD

Juan Santamaria, MD

Juan Santamaria, MD, is a new faculty member at UNMC.

  • Name: Juan Antonio Santamaria, MD
  • Hometown: Panama City, Republic of Panama
  • Title and department at UNMC/Title at Nebraska Medicine: Assistant professor, UNMC Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology

Research/professional interests:

  • Breast cancer
  • Oncoplastic breast surgery
  • Benign breast disease
  • Cutaneous surgical oncology
  • Melanoma
  • Soft tissue sarcoma

How I fell in love with surgical oncology: I became a cancer doctor because of my father, who is a medical oncologist in Panama. As a teenager, I was able to go to his clinic and also observed cancer surgeries in the operating room. Seeing the surgeons in action convinced me to become a surgeon myself.

Being a surgical oncologist offers me the opportunity to treat cancer with a multidisciplinary team approach, which in my opinion is the best possible way to treat cancer. Performing cancer operations is highly rewarding, since one has the immediate ability to render a patient cancer-free.

Education:

  • MD, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
  • Research fellowship, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
  • Research fellowship, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York
  • Internship and residency, general surgery, University of Texas Health Science Center, McGovern Medical School, Houston
  • Fellowship, complex general surgical oncology, John Wayne Cancer Institute, Santa Monica, California

Memberships:

  • American College of Surgeons
  • American Society of Breast Surgeons
  • Society of Surgical Oncology

Three things people may not know about me:

  • I have three Weimaraner show dogs that are absolutely insane.
  • I was born in Detroit, but I grew up in Panama.
  • I traveled to more than 20 countries while in medical school with a musical group called “La Tuna,” and I used to play the lute.

Clinic location:

  • Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, 505 S. 45th St., Omaha
  • Cancer Center at Village Pointe Health Center, 111 N. 175th St., Omaha

For appointments and referrals:

  • 402-559-5600

6 comments

  1. Aislinn Rookwood says:

    Welcome Dr. Santamaria!

  2. E Silva, MD, PhD says:

    Bienvenido, Juan!

  3. Dan Grice says:

    Welcome to UNMC Dr. Santamaria! Weimaraners very cool dogs – LOTS of energy!

  4. Karina Bishop says:

    The Panamanians in Omaha Community Grows! Bienvenido!

  5. Ana Yuil-Valdes says:

    Welcome to Omaha!! Bienvenido!

  6. Dr. Sheritta Strong says:

    So glad you are here. Welcome to UNMC!

Comments are closed.