INDUCTION YEAR: 2024
It can all be traced back to David Weintritt’s “ah ha” moment when he was working as a waiter one summer while in college and used the Heimlich maneuver to pop a large piece of fish out of a choking customer and save her life. Now years later he is an active clinical breast surgeon based in Northern Virginia and the founder of the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF). The NBCF is the only comprehensive breast health foundation located in Alexandria which assists low-income and uninsured women get properly screened, diagnosed and treated for breast cancer.
“There were zero professionals in our family—engineers—always admirable but my view was that I would be a professional athlete,” Weintritt said. “I played baseball and basketball but realized I was good at all sports but excellent at none.”
So Weintritt set off in another direction. He considered architecture, biology and genetics and eventually he headed toward pre-med. His interest peaked after his life saving experience as a waiter and from there he dedicated himself to getting into medical school in Florida.
Weintritt rotated through the medical disciplines and found it was very clear he was headed toward surgery. “I felt comfortable with a knife in my hands; you could fix a problem and see the patient was better.”
Weintritt, who served as a general surgeon in the Air Force at Andrews Air Force Base, opened his own practice in Alexandria in 2003. He began a program for sentinel node biopsy and was the first to bring partial breast radiation to the area.
While stationed at Andrews Air Force, the proximity to Washington exposed Weintritt to new techniques in cancer surgery at the time.
“I was able to get privileges and operate,” he said. “I saw every identity—rich, poor, Black, white. Surgical management was done by very talented people but still basic. I found the opportunities unique and began to shift more and more.”
Weintritt says what he does will change every year. “The way I’m wired I get frustrated with the status quo.”
Weintritt is always looking for a better way. He says in the early days women had a mastectomy without immediate reconstruction followed by lengthy radiation. He discovered it could be done in the same day with the same outcome and was gratified that he could perform in a way that allowed the patient to heal.
He believes in evidence based, peer-reviewed research but Weintritt says the results will require someone to change how they do things, and sometimes they don’t want to change.
Last year the FDA approved the results of his investigative work which led to a new technique for mapping the flow of cancer cells. His clinical research combined a new imaging technology with a 60-year-old drug to more accurately identify which lymph node to remove during cancer surgery. He has been teaching and training this technique around the country.
“It’s pretty humbling in my position, always interesting to think that an individual lights the fire and sees these changes occur,” said Weintritt, who views the research “like a rocket ship with significant challenges and opportunities.”
About 10 years ago, Weintritt recognized the crisis in the community of Alexandria based on statistics indicating the area had some of the highest incidence and mortality rates from breast cancer as well as high rates of late stage cancer. He recognized that early detection was critical and that low-income and uninsured women didn’t have access or information about the importance of screening and diagnostic exams. That led him to establish the National Breast Cancer Foundation in 2014. In 2018, he moved the facility to 227 S. Washington St. in Old Town, the site of the old Alexandria Hospital.
“I started the foundation in hopes of making an impact,” said Weintritt, who founded the center to improve access to care and technology for breast screening and treatment. “Anyone who dies from breast cancer is underserved. I was able to hire Martha Carucci full time to be the director of the Foundation and to take the dream out of my heart and my head to make it a reality.”
Several of Weintritt’s patients attended the opening and spoke of their experience with the center.
“When you go through this kind of ordeal, all you want is some hope,” said Donita Sharp, a 13-year breast cancer survivor. “Dr. Weintritt gives us hope.”
Weintritt said one of the challenges is to identify women who are most in need of assistance and gain their trust. When the Foundation partnered with Nueva Vida, it was a match made in heaven since the group had the grassroots to get into the community in areas like grocery stores, churches, and laundromats where there was a high concentration of low-income women to reach about the need for screening and the treatment available.
Weintritt says that the clinic is also able to offer efficient care by helping women avoid a lot of paperwork and the delays experienced by trips to Richmond to receive the follow up care they may need.
According to Weintritt, in 2024 the Foundation has already provided 137 screenings and other interventions with a projected 275 by year’s end. He reaches women through health clinics, partnerships with local businesses to host Mary’s Wings, educational meetings with local groups and good old-fashioned word-of-mouth. He hopes for the future to expand into the surrounding D.C. area and beyond while never forgetting any woman in need in his own community.
Last year he led a pilot in an underserved area of the Bronx where the income level is quite low. “We were able to fund a position and train the team in my technique. I hope to identify other communities who deeply care about the health of their underserved women and to establish similar programs.”
Weintritt and his wife Tara recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. They live with their three children in Old Town.
“I am thrilled to be a surgeon and blessed with the opportunities that technology provides today, articularly with genetics,” said Weintritt. “Through the center I hope to continue to counsel and educate women. No one should die from breast cancer.”
By Shirley Ruhe
Photo Credit: Steven Halperson-Tisara Photo