Mesothelioma Specialists
Choosing a doctor that is right for you can make all the difference in your treatment experience. Below are doctors with national and international reputations for their work with mesothelioma patients. The American Cancer Society has provided a checklist of topics to consider and questions to ask your doctor which may be helpful in choosing a doctor as your treating physician or to get a second opinion.
Alabama
Dr. Robert J. Cerfolionia
UAB Medical Center, The Kirklin Clinic
619 19th Street South
Birmingham, AL 35249
(205) 934-9999
Dr. Cerfolio is Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama Medical Center with a specialty in Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery.
California
Dr. David M. Jablons
Box 1674, UCSF
San Francisco, CA 94143-1674
Contact: (415) 885-3882
E-mail: jablonsd@surgery.ucsf.edu
Dr. Jablons is Chief of General Thoracic Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco-Mount Zion Medical Center; a Program Leader of Thoracic Oncology at the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center; an Associate Professor of Surgery and UCSF- Mount Zion Medical Center, and holds the ADA endowed chair in Thoracic Oncology. Dr. Jablons’ treatment and research specialties includes the treatment of pleural mesothelioma with pleurectomy/decortication.
Dr. Thierry Jahan
UCSF, Box 1705, Cancer Center 7th Fl.
San Francisco, CA 94143
Contact: (415) 353-9888
E-mail: thierry.jahan@ucsfmedctr.org
Dr. Jahan is a Clinical Assistant Professor at UCSF Medical Center and a Thoracic Cancer Specialist.
Dr. Mark Lischner
2 Medical Plaza, Suite 100
Roseville, CA 95661
Contact: (916) 786-7498
Dr. Robert Cameron
Dept. of Surgery, UCLA Medical School
Center for the Health Sciences, Rm 62-215
Box 951741
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1741
Contact: (310) 794-7333
E-mail: rcameron@surgery.medsch.ucla.edu
Dr. Cameron is the Director of Thoracic Oncology, Department of Surgery, at the UCLA Medical Center; Chief of General Thoracic Surgery at the Wadsworth Veterans Administration Hospital; and an Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Surgical Oncology at UCLA. Dr. Cameron has extensive experience treating mesothelioma patients.
Connecticut
Dr. Mark Cullen
135 College Street, Rm. 366
New Haven, CT 06510
Contact: (203) 785-6434
E-mail: markcullen@yale.edu
Dr. Cullen is the Director of Yale’s Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program and a Professor of Medicine and Public Health at Yale University School of Medicine.
Washington, D.C.
Dr. Paul Sugarbaker
Sugarbaker Oncology Associates
Washington Cancer Institute CG-175
100 Irving Street, N.W
Washington, D.C. 20010
Contact: (202) 877-3908
Dr. Sugarbaker is the Director of Surgical Oncology at the Washington Cancer Institute. He specializes in treatment of peritoneal mesothelioma.
Florida
Dr. Lary Robinson
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
12902 Magnolia Drive
Tampa, FL 33612
Contact: (813) 972-8412
Dr. Robinson is the Director of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute. He offers a Multi-Disciplinary method of treatment for malignant mesothelioma.
Illinois
Hedy Kindler, MD
5841 S. Maryland Ave.
MC 2115
Chicago, IL 60637
Contact: (773) 702-6149
E-mail:hkindler@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu
Dr. Kindler is the Medical Director of GI Oncology at University of Chicago Medical Center and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago.
Maryland
Dr. Stephen C. Yang
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
601 North Caroline Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21287
Phone: (410) 614-3891
E-mail: syang@jhmi.edu
Stephen C. Yang, M.D. is Associate Professor of Surgery and Oncology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and an attending surgeon at both The Johns Hopkins Hospital and The Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Dr. Yang graduated from Duke University with a B.A. in Chemistry and received his M.D. degree from the Medical College of Virginia. He completed his general surgery residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and finished his cardiothoracic surgery fellowship at the Medical College of Virginia. He also completed a 3 year thoracic surgical oncology research fellowship at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Massachusetts
Dr. Elizabeth Healy Baldini
Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Radiation Oncology
75 Francis Street, ASB1-L2
Boston, MA 02115
Contact: (617) 732-6313
Dr. Baldini is a thoracic surgeon at Carole M. & Philip L. Lowe Thoracic Oncology Program at Dana Farber Cancer Institute/Brigham & Women’s Hospital, and Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Jeanne M. Lukanich
Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Department of Surgery, Thoracic Surgery
75 Francis Street
Boston, MA 02115
Contact: (617) 732-5922
E-mail: jmlukanich@bics.bwh.harvard.edu
Dr. Lukanich is a thoracic surgeon and the Clinical Director of Lung Transplant Service at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, as well as an instructor in surgery at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Arthur T. Skarin
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
44 Binney Street, D1234
Boston, MA 02115
Contact: (617) 632-3468
E-mail: arthur_skarin@dfci.harvard.edu
Dr. Skarin is an Associate Physician at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. David J. Sugarbaker
Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Division of Thoracic Surgery
75 Francis Street
Boston, MA 02115
Contact: (617) 732-6824
An oncologist and thoracic surgeon, Dr. Sugarbaker is Chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. Dr. Sugarbaker is also the Chief of Surgical Services at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and an Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. His Tri-Modal Therapy has met with much success, and is described in more detail in the Articles and Resources section.
Michigan
Dr. Harvey Pass
Harper University Hospital
Wayne State University
3990 John Road, Suite 2102
Detroit, MI 48201
Contact: (313) 745-8746
Dr. Pass is Chief of Thoracic Oncology and the Thoracic Oncology Program Leader at Karmanos Cancer Institute; Chief of Thoracic Surgery at Detroit VA Hospital, and a Professor of Surgery and Oncology at Wayne State University. His Photo-Dynamic therapy is an aggressive new treatment for malignant mesothelioma.
Nebraska
Dr. Brian Loggie
Creighton University Medical Center
Division of Surgical Oncology, Suite 3700
601 North 30th Street
Omaha, NE 68131
Contact: (402) 280-5009
Dr. Loggie is Chief of Surgical Oncology and Director of the Cancer Center at Creighton University Medical Center, as well as a Professor of Surgery at Creighton University Medical School. He specializes in treating peritoneal mesothelioma.
New Mexico
Dr. Claire F. Verschraegen
University of New Mexico
900 Camino de Salud NE
Albuquerque, NM 87131
Contact: (505) 272-5837
E-mail: cverschraegen@salud.unm.edu
Dr. Verschraegen is an oncologist and the Director of Experimental Therapeutics at the University of New Mexico. She is an expert in the treatment of peritoneal mesothelioma.
New York
Dr. Valerie W. Rusch
Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
1275 York Ave
New York, NY 10021
Contact: (212) 639-5873
Dr. Rusch is the Chief of Thoracic Service at Sloan Kettering Memorial Cancer Center. She specializes in the treatment of pleural mesothelioma. Her work is primarily focused on pleural decortication to extrapleural pneumonectomy.
Dr. Mary Louise L. Keohan
161 Fort Washington Ave., Suite 910
New York, NY 10032
Contact: 212-305-0592 or 212-326-5511
Dr. Mary Louise Keohan is an oncologist specializing in the treatment of mesothelioma and sarcoma at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is conducting multimodality studies of patients with pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma and other connective tissue oncology studies. The Center is located at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Dr. Roman Perez-Soler
New York University
Kaplan Cancer Center
New York, NY 10019
Contact: (212) 263-8043
Dr. Perez-Soler heads up the Phase II L-NDDP as well as the Platar trial for pleural mesothelioma.
Dr. Robert Taub
161 Fort Washington Avenue
Herbert Irving 9-907
New York, NY 10032
Contact: (212) 305-6921
Dr. Taub practices in New York City, and offers a Tri-Modal therapy for treatment of malignant mesothelioma.
North Carolina
Dr. David H. Harpole, Jr.
DUMC Box 3617
3582 Duke Hospital South
Durham, NC 27710
Contact: (919) 668-8413
E-mail: harpo002@mc.duke.edu
Dr. Harpole is an Associate Professor of Surgery at Duke University Medical Center and Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Durham VAMC.
Ohio
Dr. David Mason
The Cleveland Clinic
9500 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44195
Phone: (216) 444-4053
9500 Euclid Avenue
Dr. Mason is an Associate Staff member of the Cleveland Clinic with special interests in general thoracic surgery; minimally invasive thoracoscopic and laparaoscopic surgery, lung cancer, esophageal cancer, malignant mesothelioma, lung transplantation, imunosuppression
Pennsylvania
Dr. Daniel Sterman
3600 Spruce St.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Contact: (215) 614-0984
Dr. Sterman is the Director of Interventional Pulmonary and an Assistant Professor at University of Pennsylvania Medical School. He co-authored of several informative articles on treatment and clinical trials for pleural mesothelioma.
Dr. Larry Kaiser
University of Pennsylvania
4th Floor
Philadephia, PA 19104
Contact: (215) 662-7538
Dr. Kaiser is Chair of the Department of Surgery, Director of General Thoracic Surgery, Director of the Thoracic Oncology Program & Center for Lung Cancer and Related Disorders, and a Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School.
Tennesse
Dr. Spencer McCachren
Thompson Cancer Survival Center
1915 White Ave., 1st Floor
Knoxville, TN 37916
Contact: (865) 541-1720
Texas
Dr. David Rice
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
1515 Holcombe Blvd., Box 445
Houston, Texas 77030
Phone: (713) 745-4530
E-mail: drice@mdanderson.org
Dr. Rice was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. He received his medical degree (M.B., B.Ch.) at the School of Medicine, Trinity College, the University of Dublin in 1991 and then completed his internship at St James Hospital, Dublin, Ireland in 1992. He left Ireland in 1992 to obtain his general surgery residency training at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN in 1999. During this time Dr. Rice took 18 months to complete a research fellowship in tumor immunology, examining ways of stimulating T-cells of the immune system to better fight cancer.
W. Roy Smythe, MD
Professor and Chairman Department of Surgery
The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center
Scott and White Clinic
2401 South 31st Street
Temple, Texas 76508
E-mail: wrsmythe@swmail.sw.orG
Dr. W. Roy is a thoracic surgeon and a Professor of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. He has extensive experience with treating mesothelioma patients and is a leading researcher in the field of gene therapy.
Washington
Dr. Eric Vallieres
1959 NE Pacific Street
Seattle, WA 98195
(206) 548-4477
Dr. Vallieres is a thoracic surgeon who practices in Seattle at the University of Washington, and offers Multi-Modal therapy for treatment Medical Center of malignant mesothelioma.
Where Do I Go From Here?
After diagnosis, it is important to understand your treatment options. Your doctor or oncologist will provide you with information on the treatments that are available to you.
It is also important to know about your legal rights. If you have mesothelioma, or any other asbestos-related disease, you were most likely exposed to asbestos. Many of the manufacturers of asbestos insulation products knew for decades that asbestos was hazardous, yet made a business decision not to warn people of those hazards. As a result, you may have a right of recovery against those manufacturers, which can help defray the costs of treatment and provide compensation for your pain and suffering.
