What makes this work meaningful for you?

Part of what I do is cancer surveillance for patients I’ve treated, which gives me the opportunity to follow them over the course of years. I get to celebrate with my patients each time they get a scan revealing they are still cancer-free, and I comfort and support them when the news is more serious. Another equally rich aspect of our interactions is that I get to hear about their lives and how they have evolved — when people remarry or when grandchildren are born. It serves as a reminder of all the great work being done at Fred Hutch to help give people their lives back.

What’s it like to work with you?

Patients seek out specialists for various reasons. Whether you’re looking for a diagnosis, a cure, advice, a second opinion or a specialized treatment, I work with you to identify your goals and help you achieve them. I am a believer in the multidisciplinary approach to care; it’s important that you have a team of experts who work well together, and we do that at Fred Hutch. We take the time to get to know you and what’s important to you beyond survival, like how well you function after treatment and how we can minimize side effects.

Provider Background

Specialty: Surgery

Area of clinical practice

Thoracic cancers

Lung cancer, esophageal cancer, thoracic conditions

I’m a thoracic surgeon who specializes in minimally invasive surgery for lung cancer, esophageal cancer and other chest conditions. My clinical expertise includes the management of a variety of malignancies, such as pleural mesothelioma, that involve the chest and may be responsive to surgical intervention. At Fred Hutch, I am part of the thoracic oncology group and the esophageal cancer team. I also participate on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network panel that crafts clinical practice guidelines for esophageal and gastric cancer.

As a clinical researcher, I study the care of lung cancer patients across the nation in order to improve both their outcomes and quality of life. Teaching the next generation of thoracic surgeons and clinical investigators is also important to me. I serve as the associate medical director of the UW Medicine Surgical Outcomes Research Center; in this role, I mentor surgical residents enrolled in a post-doctoral research fellowship program.