My City Wellness Fall 2021

My Wellness

ASHLEY RICHARDSON, DO, FACOS Family Ties Bring Breast Surgeon Back Home BY CINDY FICORELLI Š PHOTOS COURTESY OF MCLAREN KARMANOS CANCER INSTITUTE

Born and raised in Byron, MI, breast surgeon Ashley Richardson, DO, FACOS, is back home practicing medicine and raising two children with her husband in the community that brings her so much passion. “It always was my dream to live and work in the place I’m proud

to call my home,” states Dr. Richardson. After graduation from Byron High School, Dr. Richardson complet ed her undergraduate degree in human biol ogy at Michigan State University, where she continued her education and obtained her medical degree. She wanted to re turn home, so she applied

for the General Surgery Residency Program at Ascension Genesys. Fol lowing her residency, she completed a breast surgi cal oncology fellowship at McLaren/Karmanos Cancer Institute in Flint, and proudly announced she was the first gradu ate of the program. When presented with “such a tremen dous opportunity” to join comprehensive breast care surgeons Eric Brown, MD, FACS and Linsey Gold, DO, FA COS, FACS, she happily accepted. “They have been such great mentors and partners – they have an amazing reputation among their colleagues and patients,” she says. “Joining their practice al lowed me to stay in this community and serve people who live here.” Dr. Richardson’s work is “exclusively breast,” she notes. She treats pa tients with benign breast disease, helps high-risk patients manage their condition, and she specializes in axillary node dissection, sentinel

node biopsy, lumpecto my/breast conservation, mastectomies, oncoplas tic surgery and simul taneous reconstruction with plastic surgery. Dr. Richardson spends the majority of her time see ing patients in her Flint office and performing surgeries at the Genesee County hospitals. “When treating my patients, I see the whole person,” Dr. Richardson says when talking about her philosophy of care. “For example, I may care for a 37-year-old wife and mother of two kids who works at a small busi ness in downtown Flint, or treat an 82-year-old widow who has mobility

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