F. Ames Smith Jr., MD

Physician Biography

Dr. F. Ames Smith Jr. is a board-certified general surgeon who specializes exclusively in the surgical management of benign and malignant diseases of the breast. His surgical scope of practice includes excisional breast biopsy, lumpectomy (including oncoplastic approaches), sentinel lymph node biopsy, axillary lymph node dissection, axillary reverse mapping, nipple sparing mastectomy among other procedures. He works collaboratively with plastic surgery, medical and radiation oncology, and physical therapy to achieve the highest and best possible outcomes in cancer care for each individual patient. Particular focus and goals of his surgical practice are reducing lymphedema, obtaining optimal cosmetic and functional outcomes, and achieving negative margins. He received his undergraduate degree from Duke University in 1980, earned his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 1984 and completed surgical training at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in 1990. He has been active in surgical practice since that time, first in Austin from 1990 to 2012, and later in Seattle from 2012 to 2022, where he served as Director of Breast Surgery. He has focused his surgical practice exclusively on breast surgery since 2009. In addition, he has a special interest in hereditary cancer management, and developed and led the Polyclinic Hereditary Cancer Risk Clinic in Seattle from 2012 to 2022. This aspect of his practice evaluates and manages patients who carry genetic mutations that predispose to high risk for various cancers. He leads a monthly high-risk conference which focuses on management of patients at high-risk for cancer. Dr. Smith has received numerous commendations for quality and patient satisfaction over the course of his career. He is married to Dr. Charlotte H. Smith, who is a practicing Physiatrist (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation), and has two grown children.