A flair for traveling and the desire to share her passion is what Stefanie Feldman said brings her around the world, literally giving out smiles wherever she goes.

As a plastic surgeon, the UA alumna has volunteered in places like Cambodia, China, Nepal, Africa and Morocco, performing surgeries that make a big difference in the lives of her patients, she said.

"It's been a great way to see the world while leaving a positive dent behind," Feldman said.

She compared her work of performing plastic surgery to creating a sculpture.

"It's an art form," Feldman said.

Her "art" includes reconstructing breasts for women with breast cancer, cleft pallet surgery, and cosmetic surgeries for burn victims and skin cancer patients.

Her specialty is using abdominal tissue to reconstruct women's breasts after they've been removed during the treatment of breast cancer.

Feldman said she enjoys her line of work because of the immediate difference she sees in the lives of her patients' appearance and self-esteem.

"It's tangible work, very hands-on," Feldman said.

The Tucson native returned to campus Friday to share her experience and chat with students interested in heath care professions.

Feldman encouraged the students to find their passion and use it to leave the world a better place.

"It puts life in perspective," Feldman said, calling volunteer work "self-fulfilling and extremely rewarding."

Feldman, who graduated from Tucson High School and whose parents also graduated from the UA, was a Wildcat for more than a decade in the '70s and '80s, attending the colleges of Nursing and Medicine and then a residency at the department of general surgery.

Feldman had a full scholarship for ballet at the University of Indiana but was inspired by a program she took part in during high school, which at the time was lead by Bill Grimes, currently a UA professor of biochemistry.

The program, Amigos de las Américas, took Feldman to Latin America to bring health care to countries in need. During the trip, Feldman decided she wanted to study medicine and her dance and art influences led to surgery, she said.

Feldman is currently a plastic surgeon with Keiser Permanente, a California-based nonprofit heath care organization whose goal is to provide affordable health care, she said. In January she will become the chief of the Keiser's plastic surgery department.

She also works for two nonprofit agencies, Operation Smile and Interplast, which allow her to bring her work around the world.

One of those places is China, which is where her adopted child is from. Feldman said that she's a proud single mother and that she enjoys practicing medicine in China because she is "drawn to the culture."

Now a Los Angeles resident, she was in awe when she saw how much the campus has grown since she attended, especially the Student Union Memorial Center and the computer lab, remembering when computers were punch cards in a box during her college years.

She said it was also interesting to come back because she used to live down the street from people who now have buildings named after them, like Richard A. Harvill.

Feldman was given a plaque on behalf of the UA for being a distinguished alumna. Feldman said she misses the UA environment and plans on retiring in Tucson.