We are a comprehensive, multidisciplinary breast center that is ready to support you.
Call the Margie Petersen Breast Center at 310-582-7100.
The Margie Petersen Breast Center, a Center of Excellence
The Margie Petersen Breast Center at Providence Saint John’s Health Center offers the most compassionate and innovative care in Southern California. We care for and treat the whole person: mind, body, and spirit, providing an array of services to support your emotional and physical wellbeing. Our unique partnership with the Saint John’s Cancer Institute offers an environment that combines clinical excellence with novel research, ensuring that the care you receive is outcomes-based and optimized specifically to you.
Clinical Excellence and Improved Quality of Life
Our care team understands that each case is unique, while we treat every patient with dignity and compassion. We understand the challenges of coping with cancer and other life-changing decisions, and we are ready to guide you every step of the way. With an outcomes-based approach and our multi-disciplinary team, we work to develop the most optimal treatment plan for you based on your needs and the input of many of our oncologists, pathologists, and scientists. clinical excellence is our commitment to you.
The Margie Petersen Breast Center provides expedited breast evaluation in a welcoming, family environment.
“I got an assessment the same day and didn’t even need a referral. I am so relieved and thankful you are here. Truly an amazing team.” -L.R.
“Thank you Dr. Grumley for your extraordinary care. My husband and I are extremely grateful for both the technical side and very personal, human side of our relationship.” -Kristy
“Dr. Parvin Peddi, MD has a glowing personality and is the true definition of the best of the best…” -Ching
Our History and Approach Patient Care
For almost 30 years, Saint John’s Cancer Institute has maintained a multi-disciplinary breast center dedicated to the treatment and research of breast cancer. Extraordinary supporters, such as Joyce Eisenberg Keefer and Margie Petersen, have enabled the center to become what it is today—a premiere provider that is fundamentally changing breast health.
With highly advanced diagnostic capability on-site, we can immediately identify and treat a variety of breast conditions, often seeing patients the same day and without requiring a referral. Our integrated approach to your care, which involves many specialists, including experts in surgery, medical oncology, and radiotherapy, we surrounded each patient with a dedicated team of healthcare and wellness professionals whose mission is to focus on the whole person.
Your Multi-disciplinary Team at Margie Peterson Breast Center
We are making a difference and we prove it every day.
Under the leadership of Dr. Janie Grumley, Director of the Comprehensive Breast Program at Margie Petersen Breast Center, we have successfully treated thousands of patients and look forward to providing you and your family additional information and support.
Breast Treatment & Services
Women come to the Margie Petersen Breast Center because we can fully evaluate any breast condition in one day. By bringing several experts from other specialties together to discuss each case, we provide a more thorough assessment in less time. This process involves radiation, medical, and surgical experts, working together with radiology and other clinical staff.
Most lumps found in the breast are not cancer. If a biopsy is needed, we perform the biopsy the same day, or as soon as possible. Our team of breast specialists can quickly determine next steps and guide you through the entire process. With an annual exam, we conduct regular screenings, which is essential for early cancer detection. Patients are provided information regarding treatments, reconstruction, and supportive services during their visit.
Breast Health
Breast Health involves assessment of symptoms, conditions, and genetics, as well as prevention. (See Breast Health)
- Genetic testing and family history are considered to determine risk and recurrence.
- Common conditions may involve breast pain, masses (or lumps), skin conditions, and lesions.
- Prevention involves wellness recommendations and steps you can take to be well.
Breast Evaluation
Breast Evaluation involves how we assess the extent of conditions. (See Breast Evaluation)
- Breast exams help to establish regular assessment and early cancer detection.
- Advanced technologies, including ultrasound, mammograms, CT scans, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), provide visual references and measurements for the care team.
- Biopsies aim to validate if a cancerous condition is present using scientific analysis.
Breast Cancer Treatment
Treating breast cancer may require one or more types of treatment, which are prescribed as appropriate to maximize curative effect and improve quality of life. For example, surgery may be followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy, whereas a small, solid tumor may be treated with just radiotherapy depending on its location and the presence of metastasis. Additional treatment may include endocrine therapy (hormone therapy) and immunotherapy, which helps the immune system fight cancer. Our goal is to determine the best possible care path for you based on the type of breast cancer you have, its stage, your overall health status, and your treatment preferences. We are here to support you every step of the way.
Surgery
Removal of the cancerous gland, organ, or affected tissues (See Surgical Treatments for Breast Cancer)
- May be performed with the aid of robotics
- Used to repair tissues affected by cancer and surgery, including breast reconstruction
- May involve oncoplastic techniques, providing immediate breast symmetry
- Can be delivered with other types of treatment
Radiotherapy
Focused beams of energy that disrupt tumor growth (See Radiation Therapy Treatments)
- Used primarily for solid tumors and those in difficult to reach areas
- May require specialized imaging to determine the exact location of the tumor
- Can be delivered externally via particle beams or internally using specialized instruments
- Can be utilized with other types of treatment
Medical Treatment
Medication and treatments that address cancers that have or can spread to other areas (See Medical Treatments)
- Reduces the speed of fast-growing cancer cells throughout the body
- Encompasses systemic therapies, such as chemotherapy, biologic, endocrine, and immunotherapy treatment
- Can be utilized with other types of treatment
Breast Reconstruction
Redeveloping the appearance of the breast after complete breast removal (mastectomy) (See Breast Reconstruction)
- Common for women who undergo breast mastectomy
- May take place at the time of the cancer operation or as a separate procedure
- Encompasses different kinds of reconstruction, including direct-to-implant, autologous tissue, and nipple-areola reconstruction
The Breast Oncology team at the Margie Petersen Breast Center is ready to support you and your family. We welcome your questions and recommend coming in for an exam as soon as possible. We will discuss common conditions, treatment options, and offer additional information for each of our services as well as other cancer support services.
Contact us today.
Let’s start by answering your questions
Speak to someone today and get answers to your specific questions.
Call 310-582-7100.
Our care team is available to answer your questions. We can perform an assessment the same day, giving you confidence and options for treatment. Know that you are always well-supported and treated with compassion at the Margie Petersen Breast Center at Saint John’s.
Saint John’s Cancer Institute is leading with innovation
An Outcomes-based Approach
The doctors at the Margie Petersen Breast Center have the advantage of working alongside other researchers including geneticists, biologists, immunologists, drug discovery scientists, and clinical trials experts at the Saint John’s Cancer Institute who collaborate with dozens of academic and industry organizations worldwide.
Together, we apply decades of research and data from thousands of cancer cases to improve our clinical practice and the quality of life for our patients. For example, we can identify biomarkers and genetic profiles that indicate who is more likely to have a recurrence of cancer, which can guide early treatment strategies and other preventive measures. As a patient, you can be assured that highly recognized doctors and peer-reviewed, published physicians and scientists are all working together to develop the best care approach and medical solutions.
Advancements in Radiotherapy
Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT)
Highly targeted radiation therapy delivery that limits the radiation to just the treatment area (See Radiation Therapy Treatments).
- Delivered during breast conserving surgery
- Used in early-stage breast cancer
- Treats the area that the tumor previously occupied
- Delivers treatment in a single dose of radiation
- Patients receiving IORT after surgery may not need future radiation
- Reduces the need for additional care visits compared to external beam treatment
- Lowers the risk of cancer recurrence
Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation (APBI)
Provides the radiation oncologist greater options by focusing radiation to just a portion of the breast (See Radiation Therapy Treatments).
- Treats a rim of normal breast tissue surrounding the surgical cavity rather than the whole breast
- Equivalent to a five-week course of whole breast radiotherapy
- Treatment is commonly completed in one week
- Uses Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy(IMRT) external beam radiation therapy or High Dose Rate (HDR) brachytherapy internal catheters/balloons
- An outpatient procedure
Programs Expansion
Saint John’s Cancer Institute Translational Immunology Program
Launched in 2021, our Immunology program works to define and isolate the mechanisms by which cancer cells evade the immune system (See Translational Cancer Immunology).
The goals of the Immunology program include:
- Identify the inhibitors of immune response that prevent the body from healing itself
- Promote novel immuno-therapeutic agents for improving immune response
- Develop targeted immunotherapies specific to the genetic profile of a patient
- Predict with greater accuracy relapse-free survival
If you have questions regarding breast examination or treatment, please call today.
Dr. Janie Grumley and team of oncologists have published and co-authored dozens of peer-reviewed, breast research articles. View additional articles for Dr. Grumley at NIH.org.
- Is the 21-Gene Recurrence Score on Core Needle Biopsy Equivalent to Surgical Specimen in Early-Stage Breast Cancer? A Comparison of Gene Expression Between Paired Core Needle Biopsy and Surgical Specimens.
Chang SC, Ensenyat-Mendez M, Grunkemeier GL, Grumley JG, Matsuba C, Marzese DM, Orozco J, - Delay in surgery is associated with axillary upstaging of clinically node negative breast cancer patients.
Chang SC, Garland-Kledzik M, Goldfarb M, Grumley J, Khader A, Santamaria-Barria J, Scholer A, Fischer T. - Frontiers in HER2-positive breast cancer in 2020.
Peddi PF, Slamon DJ. - Oncoplastic breast-conserving therapy and intraoperative radiotherapy for management of carcinoma in situ of the breast: A single-center experience.
Carlson E, Crown A, Grumley JW, Rocha FG - Hormone receptor positive breast cancer: state of the art.
Peddi PF. - Oncoplastic Breast-Conserving Surgery: Can We Reduce Rates of Mastectomy and Chemotherapy Use in Patients with Traditional Indications for Mastectomy?
Crown A, Grumley JW, Handy N, Laskin R, Rocha FG, Weed C. - Autologous mastectomy reconstruction: Communication among the breast surgery team to maximize aesthetic and oncologic outcome.
Coleman C, Dickinson BP, Fancher C, Guerra L, Holmes D, MacDonald H, Vu-Huynh N, Vu MB, Snyder L.
