Lung Cancer Doctors
There are outstanding lung cancer specialists in each region of the country. Picking the right one – and the team he or she comes with -- might be the most important decision a patient can make, especially if surgery is necessary.
Finding the right fit is key. If you are diagnosed with lung cancer, take advantage of our free doctor-match program. It is designed to access a condition, and match a patient with a physician team that has the experience and expertise to get the highest quality care available.
Lung cancer is the second-most diagnosed cancer in the United States. There are expected to be an estimated 226,000 new cases diagnosed in 2012. While the majority will stem from tobacco use or exposure, an exposure to asbestos also can be responsible.
If you have a diagnosis of lung cancer or another asbestos-related disease, use our free Doctor Match Program by filling out the form to the right. The program is designed to match a patient with a lung-cancer specialist.
Doctors That Treat Lung Cancer
Because of the number of specialists who treat lung cancer, patients can come into contact with a number of types of doctors during treatment. The most common doctors patients will see are pulmonologists and oncologists. Thoracic surgeons and radiologists are also doctors that consult with patients and others on the team about treatment.
Patients will likely never meet their pathologist, but that specialist could save their life simply by diagnosing their cancer accurately.
Medical Oncologist
An oncologist treats patients with chemotherapy. Because small cell lung cancer is highly sensitive to chemotherapy, this type of lung cancer patient will be referred to a medical oncologist. Some stage I and II and most stage III and IV non-small cell lung cancer patients will receive treatment from a medical oncologist as part of what physicians refer to as multi-modality treatment. What this means is that a difficult disease like lung cancer needs to be treated with more than one type of therapy, and chemotherapy is one of these.
Radiation Oncologist
A radiation oncologist or radiologist specializes in treating lung cancer patients with radiation. Some small cell lung cancer patients require multi-modality treatment if the surgery was not successful in removing all of the tumors, so radiation would be included in this approach. Some Stage II and most Stage III and IV non-small cell lung cancer patients receive radiation.
Thoracic Surgeon
A thoracic surgeon performs operations on the thorax, which is the part of the body located between the neck and the diaphragm that houses the heart, lungs and esophagus. The thorax is commonly referred to as the chest. Among the types of thoracic surgeons are:
- General thoracic surgeons
- Cardiothoracic surgeons
- Cardiovascular surgeons
- Congenital heart surgeons
Some small cell lung cancer may require surgery if all of the tumors were not destroyed by chemotherapy. Stage I non-small cell lung cancer patients usually only require surgery to remove the entire tumor. Surgery is also performed on stage II, stage III and stage IV non-small cell lung cancer patients because in these instances, the patients require multi-modality treatment to treat the disease.
Pulmonologist
Once the primary care provider suspects that there is a problem with a patient’s lungs because of the results of a chest x-ray/CT scan, they may refer the patient to a pulmonologist, or pulmonary therapist. This type of physician specializes in diseases of the lung and bronchial tubes, such as asthma, tuberculosis, emphysema, and other chest infections. Although the pulmonologist does not specialize in cancer treatment, the primary care provider may send the patient to be tested by the pulmonologist to rule out any of the other chest conditions as a possible cause for the appearance of the abnormality on the chest X-ray/CT scan.
Pathologist
Although this is a physician the patient will probably never meet, the pathologist plays an important role in diagnosing their illness. When diagnosis of the lung condition requires a biopsy to determine its cause, a tissue sample is removed from the lung and possibly from the space between the lungs known as the mediastinum. The pathologist will examine these samples under a microscope to determine if:
- The condition is lung cancer
- Whether it is small cell lung cancer or non-small cell lung cancer
- It is non-small cell lung cancer, what subtype it is
- The lung cancer has spread to organs/tissues outside the lung
- The cancer cells are dividing slowly or rapidly
The short list of doctors that follows is just a small sample of a wide range of lung cancer specialists that are available:
South
Tammy Baxter, M.D.
-Baxter is an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is the medical director of the Lung Cancer Screening Program with strong clinical interests in the early detection and treatment of the disease. She is involved in the surgical management of a wide range of thoracic diseases, including tracheal and bronchoplastic procedures, esophageal cancer and lung cancer. She has extensive experience with minimally invasive thoracic surgery for both malignant and benign pleural diseases.
Carolyn Reed, M.D.
- As professor of surgery at the University of South Carolina's Hollings Cancer Center, Reed became the first woman chair of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, signaling the respect she has earned from her peers. Her primary interests have been in lung and esophageal cancer at Hollings, where she also serves as Associate Director of Medical Affairs. She has led several national clinical trials for lung cancer, most recently through the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group. She has been a leader in endosconographic staging of both lung and esophageal cancers. Before joining the staff at Hollings in 1985 to build the thoracic oncology program, she was trained in New York with a fellowship in surgical oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and a residency at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center.
Northeast
Raphael Bueno, M.D.
- Bueno is the associate chief of thoracic surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. His research has centered on developing new ways to diagnose and treat most thoracic cancers, including lung cancer. He has many local, national and international collaborators for his research, developed through years of work. He trained at Harvard Medical School, did a cardiothoracic residency at Massachusetts General and rejoined Brigham and Women's in 1996 to establish a thoracic surgery practice and research laboratory.
Harvey Pass, M.D.
- Harvey Pass was recruited in 2005 to be the first director of the NYU Medical Center Division of Thoracic Surgery, following celebrated tenures at the National Cancer Institute and the Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University, where he developed successful strategies for the early detection of lung cancer. His Thoracic Fellowship Training Program at NYU trains surgeons and scientists, leading to the growth of recent lung cancer advancements.
Midwest
James Luketich, M.D.
- Chairman of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Lung and Esophageal Surgery Institute, James Luketich, M.D., champions the multi-disciplinary management of lung cancer and benign esophageal disease. He specializes in all areas of thoracic oncology, and is the co-director of the Lung Cancer Center at UPMC. He is board certified in both thoracic and general surgery, having worked at both the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, as well at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York./p>
Peter Mazzone, M.D.
- Mazzone is the director of both the Lung Cancer Program for the Respiratory Institute and the director of the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program at the Cleveland Clinic. His treatment interests include lung cancer, lung nodules and intensive care medicine. His research has focused on lung physiology, lung cancer screening and lung cancer diagnostics. He did his fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine in Cleveland. His specialty interests include acute respiratory distress syndrome, asthma, pneumonia and lung cancer.
Southwest
David Rice, M.D
- A thoracic surgeon at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, David Rice, M.D., is a pioneer in the field of minimally invasive methods to deal with thoracic tumors. Originally from Ireland, he was one of the first surgeons in the United States to be trained in endobronchial ultrasound for the staging of lung cancer. He focuses on a high volume of minimally invasive lobectomies and esophagectomies for lung and esophageal cancer.
W. Roy Smythe, M.D.
- At the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, Roy Smythe, M.D., focused his patient care on chest wall tumors, advanced lung cancer, and benign lung disease. He is chairman of the department of surgery at Scott and White Memorial Hospital. His specialties include cardiothoracic surgery, thoracic surgery and general surgery. During his residency at the University of Pennsylvania, he was the lead author on the first paper describing the use of adenoviral based gene therapy to treat cancer models in the laboratory.
West
Joseph Shrager, M.D.
- Shrager is a professor in the Stanford University School of Medicine Thoracic Surgery Division. He is on the editorial board of the Annals of Thoracic Surgery. Although he practices all aspects of thoracic surgery, his special interests include lung cancer, surgery for emphysema and mediastinal diseases. He is a proponent of minimally invasive procedures, including VATS (thoracoscopic) lobectomy for early-stage lung cancer. In research, he has focused on the respiratory muscles to various diseases.
David Gandara, Ph.D.
- Gandara is director of clinical research for thoracic oncology at the University of California Davis Cancer Center. He is a leader in developmental therapeutics for new anti-cancer agents. His clinical research and modeling in lung cancer has been rewarded by the National Cancer Institute, where he is the principal investigator in the Early Therapeutics Program. He leads a multi-specialty team in the Southwest Oncology Group that studies improving therapies and predictive biomarkers for lung cancer. He was awarded the prestigious Addario Lectureships Award for his innovative lung cancer research, and was featured prominently on a PBS Newshour show earlier this year on the "War on Cancer," which was declared 40 years ago by President Richard Nixon.
Northwest
Eric Vallieres, M.D.
- Eric Vallieres, M.D., is surgical director of the Swedish Cancer Institute Lung Cancer Program. His clinical interests include lung cancer, pleural diseases, chest wall tumors, mediastinal masses, and esophageal achalasia. He specializes in both robotic and thoracic surgery. His theory, on the Swedish website, is that if you provide the right treatment for the right stage of lung cancer, you should expect better results. He has written several book chapters and done videos on non-small cell lung cancer, including the role of surgery, and the management of Stage III cancers.
Alan Sandler, M.D.
- The Hematology/Medical Oncology Division Chief of the Oregon Health and Science University, Sandler is a nationally-renowned lung cancer specialist. He is the principal investigator or co-principal investigator of several combined modality therapies for both small and non-small lung cancer. Before joining OHSU, he was the medical director of thoracic oncology at Vanderbilt University. He serves on the editorial board for both Clinical Lung Cancer and the Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology. One of his specialties is cancer and blood disorders. He is the author of more than 200 published articles covering clinical activity of novel target agents, with a particular emphasis on lung cancer.
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Last Modified Wednesday, March 14th, 2012 | Disclaimer | Privacy Policy |
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