Dr. R. Taylor Ripley

Get to Know Dr. R. Taylor Ripley

Dr. R. Taylor Ripley is chief of surgical thoracic oncology for the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, director of clinical trials for the Section of Surgery and co-leader of the Tumor Micro-Environment Program. His research laboratory, MiTOLab, focuses on mitochondria in thoracic oncology, studying how to reprogram cancer cells to make them more vulnerable to therapy.

He performs aggressive open-chest surgeries for pleural mesothelioma, including pleurectomy and decortication, and more minimally invasive and robotic procedures. Dr. Ripley also treats people with esophageal, thymic, lung and other thoracic malignancies. 

Before joining Vanderbilt, he spent years at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, where he directed the Mesothelioma Treatment Center. He says of his time at Baylor, “Dr. David Sugarbaker wanted someone to help grow his program here. He recruited me to do that. It is one of the greatest honors I’ve ever had.”  Prior to Baylor, he worked at the National Cancer Institute, where he built a reputation for clinical, surgical and investigational research excellence and founded both the Robotic Thoracic Program and the Multidisciplinary Foregut Team.

Dr. R. Taylor Ripley’s Experience and Medical Education

• Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Chief of Surgical Thoracic Oncology, Director of Clinical Trials, Professor of Thoracic Surgery)
• Baylor College of Medicine (Director, Mesothelioma Treatment Center)
• National Cancer Institute, NIH (Associate Professor of Surgery, Principal Investigator)
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center (Fellowship, Thoracic Surgery)
• University of Colorado Denver (Residency, General Surgery)
• Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (M.D.)
• Boston College (B.S., Biochemistry)

Awards and Other Recognitions

• American Board of Thoracic Surgery Certification, 2015
• American Board of Surgery Certification, 2013
• Board of Directors, Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation
• Editorial Board Member, Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
• Ingram Professor, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
• Member, Steering Committee, National Mesothelioma Virtual Database
• National Cancer Institute Director’s Innovation Award, 2016
• Steering Committee, International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer Mesothelioma Project

Mesothelioma Clinical Trials Under Dr. R. Taylor Ripley

NEMO Trial: A study comparing the combination of Imfinzi (durvalumab) and Imjudo (tremelimumab) alone versus Imfinzi and Imjudo with chemotherapy for people with potentially resectable pleural mesothelioma. Patients receive immunotherapy with or without chemo, then surgery, followed by one year of immunotherapy.

Why Choose Dr. R. Taylor Ripley for Pleural Mesothelioma

Dr. Ripley has decades of experience treating mesothelioma. His laboratory research, funded with National Cancer Institute R01 grants, examines how mitochondria, the parts of cells that produce energy, contribute to resistance to immunotherapy in pleural mesothelioma. He hopes to use those findings to develop treatments that help people whose cancer hasn’t responded to standard care.

He serves on the Board of Directors of the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation and on the steering committees of both the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer Mesothelioma Project and the National Mesothelioma Virtual Database. That work puts him in direct contact with some of the world’s top mesothelioma researchers. 

Dr. Ripley says, “I enjoy seeing patients. I enjoy seeing how they do, seeing them do well, and seeing if I can help coach them to live the very best they can. I get to know them well. It takes a very patient-specific, family-centric approach to caring for a person with mesothelioma. I was drawn to that. The harder the management of a disease becomes, the more time it takes, and the better I get to know them and their families.”

Publications of Dr. R. Taylor Ripley