Physician Interview: Valentina Bonev, MD, DABS

Last Updated on June 12, 2025 by Laura Turner

SDN spoke with Valentina Bonev, MD, DABS, to discuss their work as a breast surgical oncologist. Dr. Bonev practices in Orange County, California, where they see patients with benign and malignant breast disease and serve as a breast cancer high risk specialist at their institution.

Below is an excerpt from the interview with Dr. Bonev, with minor edits for clarity. You can view the entire interview on the SDN Youtube channel.

What made you first decide to become a physician, and why?

Valentina Bonev, MD, DABS: I knew that I was always interested in medicine and diseases, like when we were in (my) high school biology course – whenever a certain illness or disease came up, I was really interested; my ears kind of perked up. And in college, when I was taking my biology courses, the same thing, I was most drawn to that…to (know) more. So when I was an undergrad, I was involved in the clinical settings such as shadowing. Or volunteering at a free clinic and working with the patients. That’s when I realized, you know what, I really do want to be a doctor. So I would say, when I was for sure, knew that I wanted to be a doctor when I was in college.

How did you choose your medical school?

So I went to UCI, or University of California, Irvine as an undergrad. And I also went to UC Irvine for medical school. Both campuses are right there, right next to each other, so I was already exposed to the medical school as an undergrad – I did research on the medical school campus. I worked with some of the doctors in the research lab who also worked at the hospital where the students and residents train. So I had some exposure, and I really liked working with the medical students and residents and the physicians there. And I knew that I wanted to go to UCI (because I liked) the way they had their curriculum, the hospitals, the clinical settings where the students had to go to. I felt like that aligned with what I was looking for.

The school is also not a super big school. I found out later that there are medical schools where there’s well over 200 students. And when I was a student, our class was 104 people our first year. So that’s it’s a pretty good size, but it’s not super huge. I also like that it was a bit of a more intimate setting, and I felt like I didn’t get lost in the mix. Also, we would have our big lecture hall courses led by the professors, but then we would always get broken up into groups, and we would go to these study rooms, and we would have almost like a one on one interaction with a physician coming from the hospital who would follow up what we learned in the course. And so there would just be a handful of us in the room, and then we had the physician. So that was nice, too. So I liked that. I didn’t feel like I was just a number (like I was) I was getting sort of lost in there. And, yeah, so I got into UCI, and I’m really happy that I went there.

What surprised you the most about your studies?

It is really a long road to becoming a doctor, and then after you finish medical school, yes, you are a medical doctor. You’re an MD, but then you have to go into residency training, and I did general surgery, so that was five years. And then I chose to specialize in breast surgical oncology, so then I did a one year fellowship on top of that. So to really get to the point, where I am today (includes) undergrad. When you’re pre med and when you’re applying, is well over a 10 year process. It’s a long time. You have to think of it as a marathon. You have to really be dedicated. You have to plan very well. I feel like being goal oriented and creating a timeline for (yourself) helps you.

There’s just a lot of material. The first day of medical school, one of the slides was saying that the amount of information you’re going to learn is like if you’re trying to drink from a hose that the fireman turned it turned on from the hydrant. It’s literally so much information. It’s literally overload, and that’s what medical school is about, and you have to determine: Okay, it’s pretty much impossible to learn everything, but I’m going to hone in and figure out what’s the most important, and then try to cross off as much as I can.

And then what was also surprising, though I was warned, that in residency, you’re going to do long shifts. You’re going to work very long hours in the hospital, including overnight shifts. And that was true, and we worked 24 hour shifts, or even up to 30 hour shifts. And that was that was hard. So, yeah, I feel like in medical school, it was just so much to learn, and in residency is the same thing. And then on top of it, just really long days and nights, but I somehow made it.

Why did you decide to pursue your specialty?

So when I was a medical student, my first rotation was surgery. At the very beginning of my rotation, I was on the surgical oncology unit, and I happened to be linked up with a couple of attendings. One of them was a breast surgeon. Another one did a lot of breast surgery as well. And I really connected with them. I thought they were great people, and then I thought they were also great physicians as well. And I really enjoyed working with them. Through them, I got involved in a breast cancer project, which I later I ended up presenting at a national conference, and I was really excited about learning about breast cancer. I was really excited working in the operating room with these attendings. I enjoyed surgery. I enjoyed the pathophysiology, the disease process. I also enjoyed the clinic time and seeing how the attendings interacted with the patient. So I really fell in love with breast surgery through my surgery rotation as a third year medical student, and I knew that if I wanted to be a breast surgeon, I’d have to do general surgery residency. So that’s what led me to apply to surgery residency, and I still wanted to be a breast surgeon, and that led me to fellowship, and here I am today.

What is your preferred way to (explain a cancer diagnosis) to help empower patients and ease their concerns?

There’s definitely a lot of teaching and education when you’re diagnosing and explaining to a patient that they have breast cancer. So what I do is I go through it very methodically, and I go through a timeline. I go with the patient in the clinic. I go through all of their work. I (show them) all of their imaging, their biopsy, their biopsy results. I have it pulled up on the computer. I show it to them, I discuss what I see, I explain what the results are. I’m showing it to them, and then I have a paper that has basic breast anatomy, and then I’m also explaining cancer at a cellular level, and I’m explaining the type of cancer they have, how it can spread throughout the body. I’m using a little basic anatomy to show them why I’m doing the surgery I recommend and how I’m doing it. And so I think it helps patients when I’m literally starting from zero and I’m walking all the way to where we are today with their diagnosis, instead of kind of going all over the place.

Definitely it can be challenging with patients, because when they get a breast cancer diagnosis, oftentimes they’re in shock. It can be devastating to them. So my job is to be as calm as possible, answer their questions, try to assure them that they’re not alone in this. We do have great support at the institution that I work at called the breast link angels program. And these are patients who have been treated with breast cancer, all different types of breast cancer, and they get linked up with our cancer patients, and these are their match. Meaning, if I have a patient who’s maybe in her 30s with two small kids and has stage two breast cancer, they’re going to find a volunteer in who’s already had breast cancer, who is also in a similar situation, so who can help answer those kind of, like socio-economic questions and life (questions) like what to do with the kids and how to go to chemo. Chemo is needed, and so then I can focus more on the biology and the surgery of things. But just explain everything. And you also have to adjust it to their education level and be very patient with them. That’s a big thing, and trying to calm them down and let them know: You know, there are tons of women who’ve had the same thing you’ve had. We’ve treated them. You’re not going to be alone. It’s a multi-disciplinary plan, a team approach, and we’re going to take care of you and keep track of you. You don’t get lost.

In your position now, knowing what you do, what would you say to yourself back when you started?

I would say get as much exposure and experience (as you can). When you are pre-med or (in) a medical school, if you are at all interested or curious about an area, like for me, with surgery or breast surgery, try to get as much exposure (as you can) to that. Participate in a research project, no matter how small or big your role is. Shadow someone you know. Try and get that time in the hospital or the clinical setting, try to you talk with the residents or other med students to see: What is life like? Is that what you really want to go into?

It’s also important to know what are your weaknesses. And that can be hard, I think, for me and a lot of other people to identify that and to see it in the face and say, “Okay, I’m weak in this area. I need to fix this. How am I going to fix this so I can help improve myself and reach my goals?”

The other biggest thing, I would say, is to believe in yourself, be confident. So I’d say, you’ve got to believe in yourself, because there can be people out there who are gonna say – “You know what, surgery is too difficult, or breast surgery is too competitive, or being a surgeon in California is too competitive.” And I was told this too, and guess what? I didn’t listen to them, and I’m glad I didn’t, because I know that sometimes people listen and then they feel maybe they’re right, maybe I shouldn’t apply, maybe I shouldn’t try. I believed in myself, and (that) I was prepared and I knew what I needed to do to get where I needed to get. And I’m glad that I didn’t listen to the naysayers. I took everything with a grain of salt. And I said, You know what? Let’s go for it. Let’s see what happens. And it is what it is. So I’m happy where I am today.