Finding A Mesothelioma Specialist

The following physicians are specialists in the treatment of malignant mesothelioma. You will find links to their web sites, when available and to some of their published articles.They are listed in no particular order with no particular endorsement.

Mesothelioma is typically treated by an interdisciplinary team of doctors rather than by a single physician. You may run into professionals called oncologists, thoracic surgeons, and pulmonologists. Glossary of members of a thoracic oncology care team. More on choosing your mesothelioma doctor.

W. Roy Smythe, MD

Professor and Chairman/Department of Surgery, Texas A&M University System Health Sciences Center, Scott & White Hospital, Temple, TX
Phone: 254-724-2595

Dr. Smythe is currently accruing patients for a protocol involving extrapleural pneumonectomy and Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT). (Click here for an abstract of this trial).
Biography
Interview with Dr. Smythe
David C. Rice, MD

Assistant Surgeon and Assistant Professor of Surgery; Director, Mesothelioma Program; Director, Minimally Invasive Surgery Program, Thoracic Surgery/The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Phone: (713) 794-1477


Dr. Rice is currently concluding enrollment on a Phase II trial of extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) followed by Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT). He is also anticipating the opening of a new trial of preoperative Alimta/Cisplatin, followed by EPP and IMRT.
Biography
David J. Sugarbaker, MD

Chief, Division of Thoracic Surgery/Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA Chief, Department of Surgical Services/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
Phone: (617) 732-6824

Dr. Sugarbaker believes in aggressive treatment of pleural mesothelioma. He is a proponent of tri-modal therapy; extrapleural pneumonectomy, chemotherapy and radiation.
Biography
Lambros Zellos, MD, MPH

Attending Thoracic Surgeon; Clinical Co-Director of the International Mesothelioma Program/Brigham & Women's Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Phone: (617) 525-9657

Dr. Zellos is an Attending Thoracic Surgeon and the Clinical Co-Director of the International Mesothelioma Program. Dr. Zellos is a proponent of tailored multimodality therapy for each individual patient. Appropriate therapy may include surgery such as pleurectomy or extrapleural pneumonectomy with chemotherapy or radiation. Dr. Zellos has published several papers on multimodality therapy as well as methods to improve surgical techniques.

Valerie W. Rusch, FACS

Attending Thoracic Surgeon/Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
Phone: (212) 639-5873

Dr. Rusch is known for the treatment of pleural mesothelioma. She has published several papers comparing pleural decortication to extrapleural pneumonectomy.
Biography
Raja M. Flores, MD

Attending Thoracic Surgeon/Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
Phone: (212) 639-2806

Dr. Flores is currently the Principal Investigator on a clinical trial of neoadjuvant gemcitabine and cisplatin followed by extrapleural pneumonectomy and high dose radiation, as well as being involved in a trial of neoadjuvant Alimta/cisplatin, extrapleural pneumonectomy and high dose radiation. He has also compiled a 1,000 patient database to research areas of failure, and how to improve treatments for mesothelioma.
Biography
Paul H. Sugarbaker, MD, FACS, FRCS

Director, Surgical Oncology/Washington Cancer Institute, Washington, DC
Phone: (202) 877-3908

Dr. Sugarbaker is a specialist in the treatment of peritoneal mesothelioma using a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.
Brian W. Loggie, MD

Professor of Surgery, Creighton University Medical School; Chief, Division of Surgical Oncology; Director of Cancer Center/Creighton University Medical Center, Omaha, NE
Phone: (402) 280-4100

Dr. Loggie specializes in the treatment of peritoneal mesothelioma and peritoneal carcinomatosis. His protocol, based on eligibility, involves surgical debulking in combination with intraperitoneal heated chemotherapy.
Biography
David L. Bartlett, MD

Professor of Surgery, Chief, Division of Surgical Oncology/UPMC Cancer Pavilion, Pittsburgh, PA
Phone: (412) 692-2852

Dr. Bartlett has particular expertise in the management of advanced, complex abdominal malignancies. He also has a research interest in treating advanced carcinomas in the peritoneal cavity, including peritoneal mesothelioma.
Biography
Claire F. Verschraegen, MD

Director, Clinical Trial Office and Investigational Drug Program/Cancer Research and Treatment Center, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Phone: (505) 272-4551

Dr. Verschraegen is currently conducting a front-line Alimta/gemcitabine trial for peritoneal mesothelioma patients. She also offers the following Phase I trials for patients who have already been treated with Alimta:

* Phase I Study of Capecitabine with Cisplatin and Irinotecan in Patients with Advanced Malignancies


* Phase I Study of Intravenous TZT-1027 and Gemcitabine, Administered on Day 1 and Day 8 of a Three Week Course in Patients with Advanced Solid Tumors


* Phase I Study of Flavoperidol in Combination with Gemcitabine and Irinotecan in Patients with Metastatic Cancer

Biography
David P. Mason, MD

Staff Surgeon, Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery/Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH
Phone: (216) 444-4053

Dr. Mason is a proponent of aggressive multimodality therapy for malignant mesothelioma. This includes extrapleural pneumonectomy, chemotherapy and radiation with Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT). Cleveland Clinic Foundation has a multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology team with extensive experience and clinical trials in the management of malignant mesothelioma.

Biography
David M. Jablons, MD

Assistant Professor of Surgery Chief, General Thoracic Surgery/UCSF Mt. Zion Medical Center, San Francisco, CA
Phone: (415) 885-3882

Dr. Jablons treats pleural mesothelioma with a radical pleurectomy/decortication and is researching other therapies.
Biography
Lary A. Robinson, MD

Director, Division of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Principal Thoracic Surgical Oncologist/H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL
Phone: (813) 972-8412

Dr. Robinson is a member of the multidisciplinary thoracic oncology group at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center which evaluates and treats all stages of mesothelioma. He is also involved in clinical research programs for lung cancer and mesothelioma.
Biography
Craig W. Stevens, MD, PhD

Division Chief, Radiation Oncology/H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute/Tampa, FL
Phone: (813) 972-8424



Biography

Interview with Dr. Craig Stevens
Robert N. Taub, MD

Professor of Clinical Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons/New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY
Phone: (212) 305-4076

Dr. Robert Taub is a medical oncologist who directs the Connective Tissue Oncology Program at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, where there are a number of ongoing multimodality studies of patients with pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma. The Center is based at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Biography
Daniel Sterman, MD

Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine/University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA
Phone: (215) 614-0984

Dr. Sterman is the co-author of several informative articles on treatment and clinical trials for pleural mesothelioma.
Biography
Eric Vallieres, MD

Associate Professor of Surgery, Section of General Thoracic Surgery/University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA
Phone: (206) 598-4477

Dr. Vallieres uses a multidisciplinary approach to thoracic malignancies and related clinical trials. Please see Medical Journal & News Articles for an article Dr. Vallieres co-authored on Induction Chemotherapy, Extra Pleural Pneumonectomy And Adjuvant Fast Neutron Radiationtherapy For Pleural Mesothelioma (Dmm).
Biography
Stephen C. Yang, MD

Chief, Division of Thoracic Surgery/Associate Professor of Surgery and Oncology/Surgical Director, Lung Transplantation Program/Director, Thoracic Oncology Program/Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD
Phone: (410) 614-3891
Biography
Mark J. Krasna, MD

Medical Director of the Cancer Institute at St. Joseph Medical Center/Towson, MD
Phone: (410) 427-2220

Dr. Krasna is the former Head of the Division of Thoracic Surgery, Professor of Surgery and Associate Director for Surgical Oncology in the Greenebaum Cancer Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Dr. Krasna is a leader in the development of thoracic surgery. He is the author of the first textbook on thoracoscopic surgery and has instructed surgeons worldwide on his techniques.
Biography
David H. Harpole, Jr., MD

Associate Professor of Surgery, Thoracic Oncology Program/Assistant
Professor of Pathology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
Phone: (919) 668-8413
Biography
Harvey Pass, MD

Professor and Chief, Division of Thoracic Surgery and Thoracic Oncology, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery/NYU School of Medicine and Comprehensive Cancer Center/New York, NY
Phone: (212) 263-7417
Gregory P. Kalemkerian, MD

Co-Director of Thoracic Oncology/University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center/Ann Arbor, MI
Phone: (734) 936-5281

Dr. Kalemkerian directs the multidisciplinary thoracic oncology clinic at the University of Michigan Cancer Center, in addition to collaborating with the thoracic oncology team at Karmanos Cancer Institute, to develop novel clinical trials for mesothelioma patients.
Joseph S. Friedberg, MD

Chief of Thoracic Surgery/University of Pennsylvania at Presbyterian, Philadelphia, PA
Phone: (215) 662-9195

Dr. Friedberg is currently the Principal Investigator on a trial of photodynamic therapy for pleural malignancies, and also on a trial combining Alimta/cisplatin, surgery and XRT.
Robert Cameron, MD

UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
Phone: (310) 794-7333

Source