The top mesothelioma cancer doctors are specialists in diagnosing and treating this rare cancer. Treatment teams for mesothelioma include oncologists, thoracic surgeons, radiologists, and support professionals. Contact top specialists for the best care if you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma.
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Why Specialist Care Is Important for Mesothelioma
Since malignant mesothelioma is so rare, not many physicians have treated it. Patients who receive a diagnosis should work with oncologists, surgeons, and other specialists with experience treating mesothelioma.
A handful of mesothelioma specialists work in hospitals and cancer centers across the U.S. These physicians provide specialized care and help improve the quality of life for mesothelioma cancer patients.
Mesothelioma specialists can access the most effective treatments that give patients the best outcomes. They also have access to other specialists and usually work together in multidisciplinary teams. They often conduct research and can get patients enrolled in clinical trials.
Can Specialists Cure Mesothelioma?
Mesothelioma is currently considered incurable, even by the best specialists. Mesothelioma specialists approach treatment as the management of a chronic illness, not as a disease that can be cured.
Remission of a few years or more is rare but possible with mesothelioma. Work with mesothelioma specialists for the best chance of remission and extending your life expectancy.
Top Pleural Mesothelioma Doctors
Pleural mesothelioma specialists diagnose and treat this most common form of mesothelioma that develops around the lungs. Many thoracic surgeons work with oncologists, radiation specialists, and others to provide complete treatment.
Raphael Bueno, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA
Dr. Raphael Bueno directs the International Mesothelioma Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He is a thoracic surgeon and the head of thoracic surgery and a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School.
In his role treating patients with mesothelioma, Dr. Bueno leads multidisciplinary teams that meet weekly to discuss individual cases. As a researcher, he has helped develop better and more accurate diagnostic tests for mesothelioma.
Dr. Robert Cameron, MD, UCLA Health System, Los Angeles, CA
A 1984 UCLA School of Medicine graduate, Dr. Cameron specializes in surgical oncology and thoracic surgery. Dr. Cameron is certified in thoracic surgery by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery and surgery by the American Board of Surgery.
He directs the mesothelioma program at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Cameron is one of the most experienced mesothelioma specialists in the country and was instrumental in developing the pleurectomy/decortication procedure to avoid removing a patient’s lung.
Marcelo DaSilva, MD, AdventHealth, Orlando, FL
Dr. DaSilva is a thoracic surgeon specializing in lung cancer and pleural mesothelioma. He is currently the Medical Director of Thoracic Surgery at AdventHealth Orlando. He previously worked with pleural mesothelioma patients at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Dr. DaSilva works directly with and treats mesothelioma patients through individualized plans developed with other specialists. He has also conducted research to advance treatment for mesothelioma.
His research has included developing and refining hyperthermic intraoperative chemotherapy, now a standard treatment for peritoneal mesothelioma. He was one of the first surgeons to use it to treat pleural mesothelioma.
Raja Flores, MD, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY
Dr. Flores is the Chief of Thoracic Surgery at Mount Sinai and the Director of the Thoracic Surgical Oncology Program at Mount Sinai Cancer Center.
Dr. Flores completed residencies at Brigham and Women’s Hospital during his training. There, he worked with world-renowned mesothelioma specialist Dr. David Sugarbaker and was inspired to specialize in pleural mesothelioma.
Dr. Flores treats patients and also conducts research and improves surgeries for patients. He helped develop VATS lobectomy, a video-assisted, minimally invasive technique for treating pleural mesothelioma that helps patients heal faster.
Jacques P. Fontaine, MD, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL
Dr. Fontaine trained in thoracic surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital under the legendary pleural mesothelioma expert Dr. David Sugarbaker. He brought valuable mesothelioma experience to his role as a thoracic surgeon at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.
Dr. Fontaine works with a team of specialists to treat pleural mesothelioma and other thoracic cancers. He specializes in minimally invasive and robotic procedures.
Rodney Landreneau, MD, Penn Highlands Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, DuBois, PA
Dr. Landreneau is a cardiothoracic surgeon in private practice in Pennsylvania. He previously treated patients at the Ochsner Cancer Institute in New Orleans and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
At Ochsner, Dr. Landreneau treated many patients with pleural mesothelioma. There, he was one of the first surgeons to use debulking surgery with hyperthermic regional chemotherapy. The strategy is now commonly used in peritoneal mesothelioma patients but rare in those with pleural mesothelioma.
Dr. Landreneau now specializes in debulking and hyperthermic procedures in Pennsylvania. He also specializes in video-assisted lobectomy for lung cancer and pleural mesothelioma, laser surgery, cyberknife robotic surgery, and photodynamic therapy.
Abraham Lebenthal, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA
Dr. Lebenthal is a thoracic surgeon specializing in pleural mesothelioma. He trained under leading mesothelioma expert Dr. David Sugarbaker at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He sees patients there and at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Dr. Lebenthal also works with veterans with pleural mesothelioma. He is the Director of Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery at the VA Boston Healthcare System. Dr. Lebenthal specializes in minimally invasive procedures, video-assisted surgery, and photodynamic surgery.
Harvey Pass, MD, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York City, NY
Dr. Pass is a pleural mesothelioma expert and thoracic surgeon. He is the Chief of the Thoracic Surgery Division at Langone Medical Center in New York.
In addition to treating patients, Dr. Pass leads important cancer and mesothelioma research. He has been instrumental in developing the use of photodynamic therapy in the treatment of pleural mesothelioma. He also helped discover osteopontin, a biomarker used to make earlier mesothelioma diagnoses.
Dr. David C. Rice, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Dr. Rice is an associate professor at the University of Texas Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Division of Surgery.
A 1991 graduate of the School of Medicine, Trinity College, Dublin (Ireland), Dr. Rice continued his medical training at Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic and Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine.
He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland and has been on the faculty of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at UT Houston since 2001.
Although his other area of clinical interest is minimally invasive surgery for thoracic malignancies, Dr. Rice is internationally renowned for his work on mesothelioma.
Valerie Rusch, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, NY
Dr. Rusch is a thoracic surgeon and a leading expert in pleural mesothelioma. Her current positions at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center allow her to work with patients and lead mesothelioma research.
Dr. Rusch was instrumental in proving that bimodal treatment could be more effective for mesothelioma patients than other approaches. She helped improve survival times for numerous pleural mesothelioma patients. Her research also includes the investigation into distinguishing between lung cancer and mesothelioma to make earlier diagnoses.
Anne Tsao, MD, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Dr. Tsao is the Director of the Mesothelioma Program and the Thoracic Chemo-Radiation Program at MD Anderson Cancer Center, one of the best treatment centers for pleural mesothelioma patients in the world.
Dr. Tsao works with patients as part of multidisciplinary teams. She also conducts and leads important research. This includes leading clinical trials testing novel chemotherapy drugs for pleural mesothelioma patients. She also researches proton therapy.
Elliot Wakeam, MD, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
Dr. Wakeam is a thoracic surgeon and researcher at the University of Toronto. He returned to Toronto after doing important work to advance pleural mesothelioma treatment at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Wakeam specializes in minimally invasive surgeries for pleural mesothelioma and other thoracic cancers. He is also an expert in lung transplantation.
In his research, Dr. Wakeam contributed to developing the SMART protocol, a novel treatment for pleural mesothelioma that uses radiation therapy before surgery to extend patient survival time.
Stephen C. Yang, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Dr. Yang is a faculty member of the School of Medicine at Johns Hopkins’ Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he teaches in the Surgery and Oncology Department.
He earned his medical degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1984. He also has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Duke University and a strong thoracic oncology background.
In addition to his teaching post at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Yang is an attending surgeon at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and The Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. His research interests include the development of markers for the early diagnosis of lung cancer and the molecular biology of mesothelioma.
Top Peritoneal Mesothelioma Doctors
Peritoneal mesothelioma develops in the abdomen. Doctors who treat this form of mesothelioma are typically gastrointestinal specialists and surgeons.
David Bartlett, MD, Allegheny Health Network, Pittsburgh, PA
Dr. Bartlett is an experienced oncology surgeon specializing in abdominal cancers. He trained at some of the leading cancer centers in the country, including a research fellowship at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
As a specialist in abdominal cancers, Dr. Bartlett treats patients with peritoneal mesothelioma. He was instrumental in developing regional perfusion, a novel way of administering chemotherapy. Regional perfusion was essential in developing HIPEC, a leading and now standard treatment for peritoneal mesothelioma.
John Chabot, MD, Columbia University Medical Center, New York City, NY
Dr. Chabot leads the Division of Gastrointestinal and Endocrine Surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center. He also directs the Pancreas Center. He has spent his entire career here, beginning with a surgical residency and internship.
As a specialist in gastrointestinal surgery, Dr. Chabot has experience treating patients with peritoneal mesothelioma. In addition to treating patients, he has contributed to research that improves the diagnosis and management of mesothelioma.
W. Charles Conway II, MD, Ridley-Tree Cancer Center, Santa Barbara, CA
Dr. Conway is a surgical oncologist treating patients at the Ridley-Tree Cancer Center in Santa Barbara. He specializes in treating abdominal cancers, including peritoneal mesothelioma. He developed an interest in the rare cancer while working in New Orleans, where there is a high rate of mesothelioma.
Dr. Conway offers patients debulking surgery with HIPEC, the leading treatment for peritoneal mesothelioma. He also specializes in treating patients with advanced robotic procedures.
Sophie Dessureault, MD, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL
Dr. Dessurealtu is a leading expert in managing peritoneal mesothelioma. She sees patients at the Moffitt Cancer Center, one of Florida’s most important treatment facilities for patients with mesothelioma. She is a surgical oncologist in the Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology.
Dr. Dessureault is one of the few providers to offer cytoreductive surgery with HIPEC, one of the best and most effective treatments for peritoneal mesothelioma. As a researcher, Dr. Dessureault leads clinical trials and works on novel cancer vaccines.
Hedy Lee Kindler, MD, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Dr. Kindler is the director of the University of Chicago’s Mesothelioma Program. She is also an associate professor of medicine and the medical director of UC’s Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology.
Dr. Kindler started her practice in 1995 and is an internationally recognized expert on various types of cancer, including malignant mesothelioma.
Listed several times over the past few years in Best Doctors in America and America’s Top Doctors for Cancer, Dr. Kindler is a recipient of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization’s Selikoff Lifetime Achievement Award.
In Memory of Dr. David J. Sugarbaker, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA
Along with being the Chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dr. Sugarbaker was the Richard E. Wilson Professor of surgical oncology.
Graduating from Weill Medical College of Cornell University in 1979, he specialized in thoracic surgery, specifically focusing on lung and thoracic cancer. Dr. Sugarbaker’s clinical interests included general thoracic surgery, lung and pleural cancer, and mesothelioma.
In 2018, Dr. Sugarbaker passed away at the age of 65. He’s remembered as a “pioneer in the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) for nearly 30 years,” according to NIH.
Mesothelioma is a rare cancer and difficult to treat. The number of specialists available is limited, so you may have to travel for the best treatment. It is worth the effort to meet with these experts in pleural and other types of mesothelioma.
How to Choose a Mesothelioma Doctor
Getting treatment right away after a diagnosis is one of the most important factors in extending life expectancy for mesothelioma patients. A mesothelioma patient’s choice of doctor can also improve life expectancy.
Mesothelioma patients have a better chance of extending survival time by working with a mesothelioma specialist. Specialists have knowledge, experience, access to the latest treatments, and networks of other specialists.
Mesothelioma experts are not common, but patients still have options. Here are some important factors to consider when choosing a mesothelioma doctor for treatment:
- Expertise and experience. Choose a specialist in the type of mesothelioma you have. They should have experience treating and helping patients like you. Don’t be afraid to ask about a doctor’s experience and how long they have been working with mesothelioma patients.
- Location. With few mesothelioma specialists to choose from, you might need to travel to get treatment. Consider the locations of doctors and if you can afford to or are willing to travel to work with them.
- Costs and insurance. Mesothelioma treatment is costly. Talk about expenses before choosing a doctor. The specialist you work with should accept your insurance to keep costs down.
- Availability. It is so important to begin treatment as soon as you can, so a doctor’s availability for new patients should be an important decision.
- Treatments and clinical trials. The doctor you choose should be able to offer you the best and most innovative treatments for the cancer you have. They should also be able to give you access to clinical trials.
What to Expect at Your First Appointment With a Mesothelioma Doctor
A first visit to a specialist can be overwhelming. It’s a good idea to bring a family member or close friend. They can provide emotional support and take notes so you don’t forget important information.
Come prepared to the appointment with:
- A list of questions you have for the specialist
- A list of your current medications and supplements
- Any patient forms you were required to complete before the appointment
- Information about your work history and any suspected asbestos exposure
- Your insurance information
- Medical records and diagnostic information
Your primary specialist may recommend setting up appointments with additional specialists. You will likely be treated by a team of experts, including:
- Surgical oncologists
- Thoracic surgeons
- Radiation oncologists
- Medical oncologists
- Pulmonologists
- Palliative care specialists
- Gastrointestinal specialists
After reviewing your information, the specialist will probably discuss treatment options. Ask any questions you have so you can make informed decisions about your next steps.
Getting Legal Help
Remember, if you’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma or asbestos-related cancer, there is a good chance you’ll qualify for considerable compensation. Remember to fill out our form to get your free Financial Compensation Packet, with information on experienced asbestos and mesothelioma lawyers in your area.
