Dr. Jennifer L. Garst

I am a medical oncologist who primarily focuses on treating breast cancer. I’ve been at Duke Raleigh since 2007, and I also serve as the hospital’s chief medical officer. My favorite part of my job is the initial patient visit. It’s not unusual for patients to arrive for their appointment feeling fearful and anxious. I enjoy making them feel more comfortable and at ease with their diagnosis and treatment plan by the end of the visit. To further build that bond and trust, I encourage my patients to have full access to me, even on weekends or holidays, so I can help guide their treatment. I decided to become a doctor when I was 18 years old and heading to college. I felt that I would be passionate about taking care of people and my intuition turned out to be right. I am married to a physician and my oldest son is a medical school graduate, so medicine is now firmly in my family’s blood. Dr. Spiritos is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Common Variable Immune Deficiency. His top areas of expertise are Paget Disease of the Breast, Breast Cancer, Angiosarcoma, and Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

Yuri Fesko is a Hematologist Oncology provider in Durham, North Carolina. Dr. Fesko is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Common Variable Immune Deficiency. His top areas of expertise are Angiosarcoma, Inflammatory Breast Cancer, Lung Cancer, and Pleuropulmonary Blastoma.

I first recognized my passion for taking care of cancer patients during my internal medicine residency in the 1990s. At that time, new treatments were emerging and our understanding of this terrible and complicated disease was beginning to accelerate. I remember waking up each morning with new energy to get into the hospital to take care of my patients. Oncology embodied all of the reasons why I went into medicine; the compassion, the emotional connections, the incorporation of not just medicine, but psychological, emotional, and spiritual care. I enjoy getting to know my patients. I share in their joys and their challenges, and many almost become an extension of my family. In my time away from my patients, I enjoy spending time with my wife, four children and two dogs as well as oil painting, running, and cooking. Dr. Smith is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Common Variable Immune Deficiency. His top areas of expertise are Lung Cancer, Familial Colorectal Cancer, Hodgkin Lymphoma, and Paget Disease of the Breast.