Irene Wapnir

Dr. Wapnir is supremely competent. She cares deeply about her patients. Dr. Wapnir is conscientious and communicates clearly and thoughtfully. She was willing to give guidance and input in treatment decisions. She is leading the industry with the creation of the omental flap reconstruction surgery at Stanford. I highly recommend her.<br>She is my favorite doctor of all time.

Dr Wapnir is one of the most knowledgeable and compassionate Dr's i have come across. I would recommend her in a heartbeat to any of my friends and family. She is an outstanding surgeon!!!

After my diagnose I was immediately put under the care of Dr Irene Wapnir at Stanford for medical treatment. My divine good fortune as Dr Wapnir was the right doctor at the right time at the right place. After my surgery and subsequent radiation treatment under Dr Kathleen Horst and her team I had a positive therapeutic outcome. I credit these doctors and their respective teams for giving me the reassurance, compassion and continuing thoughtful kindness under their care that continues.

DR. WAPNIR is a World Class cancer breast surgeon. As a 73 year old patient with a lifetime of surgeries Dr Wapnir was far and away the best cosmetic result, least painful, most uncomplicated post surgery recovery. A truly gifted, intuitive, empathetic surgeon.

Dr. Irene Wapnir is a highly-skilled, caring and compassionate surgeon at Stanford.<br>She and her team are meticulous whether they are preparing for surgery, visiting with patients, or conducting follow up visits.<br>Dr. Wapnir has been one of my strongest allies in my fight against metastatic breast cancer, performing several long surgeries to remove difficult cancerous lymph nodes.<br>At one recent visit she sent me to radiology for ultrasound and then came in to study the images of the nodes for herself as they weren't easy to see on other tests. She spent considerable time with me and the radiologist until she was satisfied with the surgical direction she would take.<br>Her staff is superb: easily accessible, kind and helpful.<br>I have unhesitating confidence in Dr. Wapnir, her expertise, her professional skills, and her caring manner. She and my oncologist Dr. Blayney are utilizing their exceptional gifts, experience and knowledge to help me manage my disease and give me the gift of more time.

I decided to write this review despite the years it has been since my surgeries after reading Mary D.'s review. I see that she described her lumpectomies as being "over treated" and described Dr. Wapnir as being an "aggressive surgeon." I cannot comment on Mary's case as I am not a medical person nor do I know anything about her situation. I can only say that was not my experience.<br><br>At the time I was diagnosed, Dr. Wapnir took a lot of time explaining the procedure to me and provided information about the particular cancer (who knew there were so many types of breast cancer?!!). She suggested a lumpectomy and was not convinced that it should be followed up by radiation therapy as that would rule out more lumpectomies should the cancer re-occur. I went to another surgeon who is highly respected in this area for a second opinion and she recommended a bilateral mastectomy followed up by both radiation and chemo. This is why I find it so hard to believe that anyone would describe Dr. Wapnir as being overly aggressive. (In the end, I went with her recommendation for a lumpectomy but followed up with radiation but no chemo). <br><br>A few years later, I developed a tumor in the other breast and again Dr. Wapnir was my surgeon. I again was very happy with the care. <br><br>I will note that this was before Dr. Wapnir moved to California. But to let you know how much faith I had in her, I literally cried when I found out she was moving out of state. If I could afford it, I would have been flying out to California for follow up care.

Expertise and calm makes her a reassuring guide thru the chaos of a diagnosis

I don't think anyone going to see Dr Wapnir is a happy person at the present time so I know she deals with a lot of emotional people, including me. I had a very difficult time accepting I had cancer and she always encouraged me but in an honest way. She left my breast looking pretty darn good considering all it went through. I trust Dr. Wapnir completely, and I'm a tough customer believe me. I'm an NP so I've known a few doctors in my life, and I know a good one when I see one, and Dr. Wapnir is outstanding! I go to her for everything concerning my cancer, imaging, meds, etc because I couldn't find anyone I trust like I trust her. I'm willing to drive 1 1/2 hours to see her because I know I'm getting superior care. She's the complete package- superior surgical skills with a wonderful bedside manner. Definite recommend!

She is untrustworthy, records details in after visit summary without the patient’s knowledge/without discussing with patient. She has no time for patient care, has a bad attitude, is rude, and treats patients as if stupid! She communicates very little and withholds information. She gave contradictory advice without considering diagnostics. She put patient at risk by directly deciding surgery plans and booking operation theatre time without completing baseline MRI first. She did not follow radiology recommendations to do the minimally invasive biopsies and instead suggested doing surgical excisional biopsies. She then does not even change plans no matter even if there are new findings. She refused to refer patient to plastic surgery for exploring options. She decided to use BioZorb assuming patient does not need to know anything about it, not allowing referral to Radiation oncology to consult about any benefits of using BioZorb. Based on my horrible experience with her, I do not recommend this surgeon. She has the potential to damage the patient’s well being and she does not care!

Dr. Wapnir has a huge ego! She is a jerk! She has no time for patient care, she spent 5 mins at my consultation after making me wait for several hours, then interrupted my consult by receiving a phone call, was away for 45 mins, came back and gave hurried instruction to the fellow doctor who was clearly frustrated! Her breast cancer treatment plan was poor and not based on thorough diagnostics. She is a poor communicator, she withholds key information that are required for the proper decision making for the patient's best interests. She makes surgery plans without checking the whole problem, does not budge from it to change plans even if new findings come up. She refuses to allow radiology referrals to follow-up on radiology recommendation, you have to fight for it dearly. She refuses referral to plastic surgery, or radiation oncology prior to surgery, her nurse lied about the process saying they refer after surgery and radiation treatment is completed, which is a disasterous lie, as I found out after second opinions! She records lies and manipulations in your after-visit summary, in order to make her case for surgery solid to suit her convenience, and not what's best for you, without your knowledge! Demand for and check everything, she and her team are not trustworthy! Her lack of involvement and irresponsible behavior prompted me to take second opinions, and thank god for that, I was somewhat saved! Do not go with her if you are an Asian! I've never seen her smile, she was plain rude and condescending! She has no empathy! She will intimidate you and make it sound like you are wasting her time and that all your questions are unfounded and stupid, and I'm an Engineer/not stupid!Adding this upon reading the review below by D.G., I completely agree with every thing you wrote, except want to add that she was the same even when I gave her the honor of providing first opinion! My experience with her on that fateful day, at first consultation for breast cancer, on Nov 18, 2021 was ditto, and it then set my entire breast cancer journey into a turmoil. I also felt sympathy for the fellowship doctor under her! Dr. Wapnir made surgery plans and booked OT time, without checking MRI on both breasts. I had to advocate for myself all along, my trust was broken systematically, I was extremely stressed out, fought my way through everything until a day before surgery I found out that she lied about my biopsy report and claimed benign areas were all cancerous, without releasing my report. She was all set to operate on me on Dec 22, 2021, saying everything biopsied was cancerous. She was going to put in a BioZorb, without exposing what benefits it provided and without allowing consult with radiation oncologist to find out for myself as to whether or not it would help with radiation treatment! When questioned, she said she won't put in the BioZorb if I didn't want it. How on Earth should I know whether or not I want it, especially when she won't let me speak with the radiation oncology?! She refused to refer me for plastic surgery consult either, all while another patient (Dr. Dirbas's patient) told me that she had been through a class along with 7 other women during that same timeframe in Dec 2021, when they were all thoroughly informed about their plastic surgery options so they could decide what's best for themselves. Why was I not allowed the same experience?! In my case, Dr. Wapnir was artificially controlling my options until I found out about her lies the day before surgery and cancelled it. Her department management then took over to bully me and came down heavy with their official letters that blamed me squarely with more lies and manipulation of facts, and they denied service. They are very, very bad human beings. I suffered harassment and torture at their hands, which continued to impact me everywhere else I went, including at UCSF and Sutter Health! These people in medical care are repulsive indeed! They do not deserve all the respect they are given. Down with Stanford breast cancer surgery department! I have nothing better to say about UCSF either. The politics transpires from Stanford onto UCSF seamlessly... note that these two organizations were one and the same until some years back. So there are old timers sitting on each other's boards and controlling things. There'd be hope only after they all retire and let go of their powers! Until then, they are into practicing cancel culture with fake stories and blame games on anyone who found out about their dark secrets! Sutter Health is providing some filler service currently. While I'm seeking follow up care far away in another State!