10 Questions with Jill Oxley, MD
Breast surgeon Jill Oxley, MD, the director of breast care services for Cape Cod Healthcare, shares her most meaningful accomplishment, one thing people might be surprised to learn about her and the one superpower she wishes she had.
As a breast surgeon who is part of a multidisciplinary cancer care team, Jill Oxley, MD, likes to think of herself not as a quarterback, but as one who leads the first leg of a relay race.
“I hold the baton in the beginning,” says Oxley, who discusses diagnosis and treatment options with patients, “but then after surgery is done, I hand off the baton to the medical oncologist, radiation oncologist or whatever the next appropriate treatment will be.”
For most of her 23-year career, Oxley has specialized in both breast and general surgery. But after her own breast cancer diagnosis at the age of 46 (“It was caught at the earliest possible stage during a routine mammogram screening”), she decided to focus her practice entirely on breast care.
Dr. Oxley grew up in New Jersey and first became interested in women’s health after shadowing breast surgery in college. Her interest in this field continued to grow while at medical school at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, where she focused her research on axillary lymph nodes. During her surgical residency at Boston Medical Center, Oxley completed three clinical rotations at Cape Cod Hospital and thought it would be a great place to work. “I like the community hospital feel, but with the teaching component.” She has been affiliated with Cape Cod Hospital since 2020 and was previously affiliated with Cape Cod Hospital from 2004-2019. “This wasn’t my first job after training—this was my second and fourth job. But what really got me here was I married a native Cape Codder.”
Although Massachusetts is a leader in breast cancer incidences (the counties with the highest rates in the state include Nantucket and Barnstable), the good news is that breast cancer survival rates in Massachusetts consistently rank the highest in the country. “Fortunately, breast cancer is very treatable,” says Oxley, one of two dedicated breast surgeons at Cape Cod Healthcare. “A lot of patients are going to do very well. It doesn’t necessarily mean their road will be easy, but the majority will have good outcomes.”
In honor of breast cancer awareness month, we recently sat down with Dr. Oxley to learn more about her role, common concerns and misconceptions from patients, her most meaningful accomplishment and something people would be surprised to learn about her.
1. What gets you out of bed in the morning?
Usually my alarm clock or one of my cats. We have two cats, Gnocchi and Bucky.
2. What is something about you that people would be surprised to learn?
I grew up backstage on Broadway. My father was a Broadway musician. When I was little, he would take me into the city on Friday nights because I wouldn’t have to get up to go to school the next day. I was pretty shy as a kid, so I appreciate that much more as an adult than I did at the time. I never wanted to pursue music professionally because I didn’t like the lifestyle, which is a little ironic considering I became a surgeon.
3. What has been your most meaningful accomplishment?
Having my daughter. Family is the most important thing. She is in college now studying biochemistry and she’s pre-med.
4. What would a perfect day off look like for you?
I would start with waking up without an alarm, going for a walk or taking a yoga class. Spending time with family and enjoying some seafood with a glass of wine.
5. What was your very first job? What was your big takeaway?
It wasn’t my first job, but I spent one summer as a telemarketer. But I was calling people who agreed to be called. I really learned a lot about how to interact with people, and there’s a big difference when you call someone who wants to talk to you compared with having a conversation with someone who doesn’t want to talk to you.
6. If you could have one superpower, what would it be? And why?
I would like to be able to communicate with cats. I didn’t have pets growing up. We got a cat about a year before my daughter was born and when I was in labor, the cat kept walking over to the bedroom closet door, looking up at me and meowing – like come here in the closet, this is a good place to have a baby. She was a rescue cat, and she had never had kittens. Ever since then, I would really like to know what the cats are thinking.
7. What do you think of Breast Cancer Awareness Month?
We do receive a lot of attention during the month of October. We wear a lot of pink. But it’s great. We don’t want to become complacent. We need to be reminded to get your mammograms. I can’t tell you how many women in their 70s say, “I wasn’t even going to get a mammogram this year or thought I’d skip this year, but then I found a lump” or “then they found something on my mammogram.” We don’t want to forget. Breast cancer is not going away anytime soon. The earlier it’s detected, the more likely we are going to be able to treat it with the goal of a cure.
8. How do you stay up to date with the latest research and developments in breast cancer treatment?
I try to stay current through the American Society of Breast Surgeons annual meeting. They also have Question of the Week and Selected Readings. But I also feel I learn a lot from our weekly breast cancer conferences with Cape Cod Healthcare colleagues where we review all newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. People share different perspectives, including what they’ve learned from their specialty meetings, and we learn from one another—from radiation oncology to medical oncology.
9. What are the most common concerns or misconceptions patients have about breast surgery?
A lot of women are concerned that breast surgery is going to be disfiguring. And that is where a lot of progress has been made over the years with onco-plastic techniques and aesthetic scar placement. Even when we are talking about mastectomy, there are good reconstruction options and the option for no reconstruction. Another concern – Breast surgery is going to be very painful both in the short term and long term. But many women have breast surgery with no narcotics at all and if there is any narcotic use, it’s usually fairly short. Another misconception – More extensive surgery will lead to better outcomes. We’ve known for decades that mastectomy doesn’t improve survival from breast cancer. Yet the rates of mastectomy are still high. With modern radiation techniques and modern medical therapy, there’s really no difference in any outcomes whether you’re talking about survival, or even rates of recurrence between what we call breast conserving therapy or mastectomy.
10. What do you enjoy most about your job?
It’s really a tremendous privilege being a surgeon. Patients are literally putting their care in my hands. The surgeon-patient relationship is based on trust, so patients are really trusting me with their care.
