Dr. Therese E. Cusick | Breast Surgeon | Wichita Surgical Specialists

Therese E. Cusick, MD, FACS, is a board-certified surgeon, specializing in breast cancer. Watch to learn more about Dr. Cusick, and what inspired her to become a breast cancer surgeon.
“I'm Terri Cusick. I'm a breast surgeon with Wichita Surgical Specialists. I'm the director of Breast Care Specialists. It's a subdivision we have that is breast only.
I went to medical school at the University of Illinois after College at Saint Olaf College in Minnesota, but I matched here for residency and just fell in love with Kansas and decided to stay here.
I kind of was inspired to do this because of breast cancer in my family. My mom's mom was the healthiest of my grandparents, and yet she developed breast cancer when I was a teenager. And so, I think having someone that I was so near and dear to die of breast cancer while I was still in high school was probably life-changing for me.
I focus my practice on breast only. And I love it. I just feel like it's such a privilege to be there at that very, very vulnerable time in their life.
It's very, very rewarding. I have boxes of thank-you notes that I've kept over the years. Sometimes I wonder why I'm still keeping those. But it just is just a reminder to me that you have made a difference and patients are appreciative of the care that you give them.
I am married. I have a wonderful husband who's very supportive, which makes it easier to be a full-time surgeon, to have a supportive spouse. And I have four kids, three are in college now. And then one who's still in school. But I try to spend time with my family as much as I can outside of work.
And I actually went to graduate school before I went to medical school. I have my masters in exercise physiology and I find that exercise is my way to kind of reduce stress. And as I've gotten older, as a surgeon, I started adding Pilates to it. And that's fun to kind of work on flexibility and try to keep myself healthy.
And we're learning that exercise can be very helpful in decreasing the risk of breast cancer, and obesity increases the risk of breast cancer. So, some of these things I never thought would be a part of today's life is really working into my breast cancer practice all the time.
I think what I want most for my patients is hope. I mean I love the word hope and when you have patients that have lost hope, that's a bad place to be. And it's amazing sometimes how while they're waiting for an appointment, they've thought the worst and then they can meet with you and realize, oh, it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. There’s definitely hope. And breast cancer is so treatable. Heart disease might be a worse diagnosis than having breast cancer because we can treat breast cancer so well now.
I think if I could talk to my younger self, I would tell young Terri to do the same thing I'm doing now. I mean I ended up being right where I want to be and I think this was really where I'm supposed to be. I'm doing what I want to do and touching the lives of women in the way that I want to.”
Dr. Cusick practices at Breast Care Specialists at 551 N. Hillside St., Suite 201 in Wichita, KS 67214.
To learn more about Dr. Cusick, visit www.wsspa.com/....