Raja Michael Flores

Bio

Raja Michael Flores, M.D., professor and chief of thoracic surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, specializes in surgical treatments for mesothelioma and emphasizes patient relations. He believes that as a doctor it’s his job “not just to treat the disease but to treat the patient.”

From a young age Flores was fascinated with the idea of “fixing a human being.” He first studied mesothelioma during his residency because his mentor was interested in the rare cancer. He immediately took to the subject and found his niche.

Not only was he intrigued by the disease, he also easily related to mesothelioma patients.

“Many of them are blue-collar guys, insulators, asbestos workers, pipe fitters, shipyard workers,” he said. “With my blue-collar background, I could identify with them and they could see that I knew how this disease was hitting them.”

His passion to help people has constantly led him to take on new research endeavors, and his study of pleural mesothelioma has changed the way the disease is treated.

One of his concerns is the use of a pneumonectomy to treat mesothelioma, in which an entire lung is removed. “When you lose a lung,” he said, “you’re losing a lot of quality of life.”

In one major study, Flores showed that mesothelioma could be treated effectively by removing part of the pleural membrane, a finding that has had a significant impact on patient prognosis and quality of life.

Flores also established the VATS lobectomy procedure. In this minimally invasive thoracic surgery, diseased portions of a lung are removed using only three small incisions, a less severe alternative to completely opening the chest cavity. In his initial studies, he proved the effectiveness of VATS lobectomy as compared to the standard thoracotomy. His system had equal survival rates while creating fewer complications and leading to faster recovery rates.

Throughout his practice Flores keeps his focus on individual patient care. Milton Gumbs, M.D., one of Flores’ most influential mentors, is proud to recommend Flores.

I’ve referred patients to him over the years and they all love him because he sits with them, and makes them feel at home,” Gumbs said.

Possibly the most important aspect for some patients is that Flores loves a challenge and won’t give up. “Whenever someone is given a diagnosis of ‘You’re done, there’s nothing we can do,’ that’s when I really crank it up,” he said. “That’s when I do whatever I can to try and change those odds.”

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Publications

Flores has contributed to 22 scholarly articles that discuss mesothelioma. These articles, which have been featured in journals such as Clinical Lung Cancer and Current Treatment Options of Oncology,explore emergent surgical approaches to mesothelioma treatment, individualized thearpy and protein biomarkers that indicate the cancer's presence.