'I feel very lucky to be a cancer surgeon here.'

It's extraordinarily fulfilling to be able to tell a patient you got it all, that the margins are clean and that there is no more evidence of disease. 

Cristina is a surgical oncologist — a cancer surgeon — who has been on the medical staff at Rush since 2017. In her practice, she focuses on melanoma, sarcoma and breast cancer. 

She was inspired to pursue her field because of its ever-evolving nature, the challenges it provides and the opportunities it gives her to offer patients the most advanced treatment for their cancer.

"Oftentimes when I meet patients, they have this new diagnosis of cancer and they're extraordinarily anxious, which is very understandable. They may have no idea what the next steps are or even what their diagnosis means. I like to break it down with the patient, go over the pathology and let them know what the treatments are," Cristina says.

After surgery, she says, "it's extraordinarily fulfilling to be able to tell a patient you got it all, that the margins are clean and that there is no more evidence of disease."

Cristina has thrived professionally in the clinical atmosphere at Rush, where multidisciplinary care is the norm for patients diagnosed with cancer.

"Rush truly is a patient-centered, academic institution with great colleagues," she says. "I feel very lucky to be a cancer surgeon here."