The Thoracic Oncology Program was started over a decade ago by Dr. David Jablons, a world-renowned thoracic surgeon, and Dr. Thierry Jahan, one of the region’s most highly respected thoracic oncologists. Their goal was to establish UCSF as a Center of Excellence for the treatment of lung cancer, mesothelioma and esophageal cancer - to offer patients compassionate multidisciplinary care, innovative treatment, personalized care, and access to the most promising clinical trials, all supported by a vibrant, translational research enterprise.
A Growing Presence
With the additions of Drs. Michael Mann, Jasleen Kukreja and Pierre Theodore, the Thoracic Oncology Program is now home to four thoracic surgeons, and has the highest surgical volume of any such program on the West Coast.
In 2005, Dr. Sarita Dubey, a medical oncologist from the University of Wisconsin with a strong background in clinical trials, joined the program. Her recruitment was followed by Dr. Lorriana Leard, a pulmonologist trained in the latest advances in interventional pulmonology. This allows her to diagnose and stage lung cancers using less invasive yet highly precise methods.
In 2007, Dr. Sue Yom, a radiation oncologist highly focused on lung cancer, joined the program. Previously at M.D. Anderson, one of the world’s leading cancer centers, she was active in promoting advanced technological developments in lung cancer therapy.Collaboration in the Clinic
Specialists from many areas work collaboratively to diagnose patients and custom tailor treatments. At the weekly Tumor Board Conference, physicians present the most challenging cases and receive advice and recommendations from the group.
Dynamic Research
In the mid-1990s, Dr. Jablons began preserving fresh-frozen tissue specimens from surgical patients. The thoracic tissue bank has proved to be an invaluable resource, a vast repository of genetic and molecular data for future research. Soon thereafter, Dr. Jablons received funding for the Thoracic Oncology Laboratory and recruited three outstanding scientists, Liang You, M.D., Ph.D. Zhidong Xu, Ph.D. and Biao He, Ph.D. Since 2001, the group has performed thousands of experiments and published over a hundred peer-reviewed articles. In 2005, the lab was awarded a prestigious NIH R01 grant to study mesothelioma and in 2007 it received a sizable grant from the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation to study systems genetics in lung cancer, paving the way for more effective treatment of the disease.