Dr. Huston is a general and vascular surgeon specializing in breast care. She is known by patients and colleagues for her compassion and dedication to evidenced-based medicine. Dr. Huston holds a B.S. in Nursing from Michigan State University, an M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Western Michigan University, and an M.D. from Michigan State University.
Dr. Jan Huston, medical director of The Connie Dwyer Breast Center at Saint Michael’s Medical Center, has been named one of the nation’s top surgeons — one of just two women and the only breast surgeon on the list, according to the independent research firm, Castle Connolly Medical Ltd.
The selections are based on interviews nationwide and all physicians who are nominated go through an extensive credential review by a physician-led research team. A full-page list of the 32 top physicians was published in The New York Times.
Castle Connolly says physicians do not and cannot pay to be named a top physician.
At The Connie Dwyer Breast Center, Dr. Huston has pioneered advances, including the Rapid Breast Biopsy Diagnosis, which delivers test results in less than 24 hours, reducing anxiety and stress for women. She is a principal investigator in the Mensanna Research Inc. study evaluating biomarkers in breath that may predict breast cancer risk.
“My patients come to see me from near and far,” Dr. Huston said. “Some of them walk here or take the bus. Others fly in from Florida to see me. I treat my patients the way I would want to be treated. I give them hope and love and prayers and hugs,” she said. She also give p atients her personal cell phone number to call with their questions and concerns.
Dr. Huston also has been named as Castle Connolly Top Doctor in the New York metropolitan Area every year for the past ten years.
She initially worked as a vascular surgeon.
“As a vascular surgeon, I worked in a practice of male surgeons. The women who needed breast surgery gravitated to me. More than a decade ago I decided to specialize in breast surgery,” Dr. Huston said.
She said she is dedicated to following the standards of evidence-based medicine.
“Many surgeons practice the way they always have practiced. It’s bias based. To me, surgeons must respond to what the evidence shows us — even if that means changing the way things have always been done,” she said.
Dr. Huston, whose father was a physician, first began her career as a nurse.
“When I grew up women were expected to be nurses, not doctors,” she recalled. “But after I began working in a hospital I looked at what physicians were doing and said, ‘I can do that.’ So I entered medical school and got my degree.”
She is married to Jonathan Pryor and the couple has 12 children, ten of them adopted from around the world.
Established by the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor in 1867, Saint Michael’s is a 357-bed regional tertiary-care, teaching, and research center located in the heart of Newark’s business and educational district. Saint Michael’s is a member of Catholic Health East, which is based in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, and is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit health systems, with 33 hospitals in 11 states. More information is available at www.smmcnj.org and www.che.org.
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