Associate Professor of Surgery and Assistant Professor of Pathology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, David H. Harpole Jr., MD, is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He completed his residency in general surgery at Duke University Medical Center and fellowships in thoracic surgery at Duke and one in thoracic oncology at Dana Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School. Board certified in surgery and thoracic surgery, Dr. Harpole is also Director of the Lung Cancer Prognostic Research Laboratory and Vice Chair of Faculty Affairs at Duke University Medical Center.

Dr. Harpole lists his clinical interests as thoracic oncology, general thoracic surgery, benign and malignant disease of the lung, esophagus, and mediastinum, advanced airway and thoracoscopic surgery, hyperhidrosis palmaris, mesothelioma, and esophageal cancer.

As a researcher, Dr. Harpole has spent time studying non-small cell lung cancer; in particular, the study of serum and tissue molecular biologic markers of recurrence in patients with a localized non-small cell lung cancer, molecular biologic staging of lymph nodes in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, and the evaluation of the clonality of metastatic tumors in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Dr. Harpole's other clinical research activities include creation of a prospective database for the Duke Thoracic Oncology Program, a cost and satisfaction evaluation of thoracoscopy and open thoracotomy in patients, development of risk associated models of morbidity in patients undergoing general thoracic surgery procedures (The VA Cooperative Surgical Risk Study), and the development of esophageal cancer treatment protocols (as a member of the Duke Gastrointestinal Malignancy Research Committee).

A member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Dr. Harpole is widely published and his articles have appeared in a number of peer-reviewed medical journals.

Contact Information:
Duke University Medical Center
Department of Surgery
DUMC Box 3627
Durham, North Carolina 27710
Phone: 919-668-8413

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