Thoracic Surgery and the Modern Paradigm for Screening Nodule Management

To wrap up our “Power of Partnerships” series, Dr. Douglas Wood has a conversation about the thoracic surgeon’s role in lung cancer with fellow thoracic surgeons Dr. Leah Backhus, Dr. Tom Varghese, and Dr. Farhood Farjah. They discuss the surgeon’s role in screening programs, evaluating nodules from a surgical perspective, and how to avoid harm and minimize unnecessary surgery for patients without cancer.

Douglas E. Wood, MD, FACS, FRCSEd is the Chair of Surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, and a physician with the Seattle Care Alliance. Dr. Wood has previously served as president of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. Leah Backhus, MD, MPH, FACS is an Associate Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford University. Dr. Backhus is the Co-Director of the Thoracic Surgery Clinical Research Program and Associate Program Director of the Thoracic CT Surgery Residency Training Program at Stanford. Thomas K. Varghese Jr., MD, MS is an Associate Professor of Surgery and the Head of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Utah. Dr. Varghese has also previously served as the Interim Executive Medical Director at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Farhood Farjah, MD, MPH, FACS is an Associate Professor of Surgery and an Endowed Chair of Lung Cancer Research at the University of Washington. Dr. Farjah is a physician with the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

As a follow-up to the National Lung Cancer Roundtable and American College of Radiology’s 2021 webinar series, the “Power of Partnerships” limited podcast series will feature conversations currently happening in the world of lung cancer with the people pushing the field into the future.

Additional information on this topic, as well as the resources mentioned during the episode, can be found at https://www.acr.org/Clinical-Resources/Lung-Cancer-Screening-Resources.