Accomplished surgeon Raphael Bueno, MD, a longtime fellow and professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, currently serves as Chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. Following the lead of his predecessor, Dr. David Sugarbaker, Bueno is known as an innovator in his field and performed the first successful Image-guided Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery (or “iVats”) on a patient suffering from lung cancer. He also is Co-Director of the Brigham and Women’s Lung Center, Program and Research Director of the International Mesothelioma Program Vice Chairman of Surgery for Cancer and Translational Research, and senior surgeon at the hospital.
Bueno has focused much of his career on devising new therapies for lung cancer and mesothelioma, specifically the development of tests for detecting cancer and determining the prognosis of malignant thoracic cancer patients after surgery. In addition to his hands-on work at the hospital, work as a professor, and various leadership roles, he also is the lead investigator of several clinical trials related to cancer. One of the clinical trials Bueno leads involves biomarker responses in the tumors of surgical patients suffering from malignant pleural mesothelioma, which affects the lungs.
Graduating from Harvard Medical School in 1985, Bueno completed his residency program at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and a thoracic surgery fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital before returning to Harvard. He received his general surgery board certification in 1993 and taught at the Harvard Medical College. The latter part of his career was spent treating malignant mesothelioma and lung cancer patients in both early and late stages.
Bueno’s research focuses primarily on extensive studies of mesothelioma at the cellular level, with the ultimate goal of incorporating these results into aggressive new mesothelioma treatment processes. Quite a bit of his peer-reviewed research has been published in the Journal of Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery and other well-regarded medical journals, much of it focused on molecular-level therapies, chemotherapy drug resistance, and gene expression in lung tumors (and mesothelioma specifically). He also specializes in airway surgery and esophageal surgery.
One of Bueno’s greatest achievements – his development of iVats in 2013 – allows surgeons to remove lung tumors using minimally invasive techniques. While the typical method for locating lung tumors is imprecise and often results in more tissue being removed than necessary, while iVats uses real-time imaging and on-tissue markings to allow for more accurate and less-invasive surgeries. Use of this technique has led to more successful outcomes and longer life expectancies for patients.
Through Bueno’s leadership and guidance, he and other members of the International Mesothelioma Program took their expertise to Israel, where their thoracic surgery team taught Israeli surgeons how to perform minimally invasive esophagectomies. They also performed the first such procedure in Israel’s history.
Like his predecessor at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Bueno is a highly respected expert in mesothelioma and regarded as one of the world’s experts in the field. He is listed in Castle Connolly’s list of Top Doctors and was named by Boston Magazine as a top thoracic surgeon.
Learn More About Mesothelioma
Asbestos Exposure Information
Did You Know?
Get Help from Experienced Mesothelioma Nurses
Learn more about these experienced mesothelioma nurses by watching the video below. Click here to contact a mesothelioma nurse now.
Learn More About MesoLawyersCare
Watch the video below to learn why MesoLawyersCare is the best choice to represent you and your family after a mesothelioma diagnosis.
Contact MesoLawyersCare Now
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, please contact us to see if we can help you get the compensation you deserve from the billions of dollars in asbestos trust funds available now for qualified asbestos victims. With just one call, you can put all our experience and success to work for you.
We have represented thousands of victims of mesothelioma and their families in virtually every State in the country and in decades of work have recovered billions of dollars in financial compensation for our clients.
Call us now at 1-888-568-1177, fill out the form on this page or chat with a live person. The consultation is free and it costs nothing upfront to hire the lawyers behind MesoLawyersCare. We only get paid if you collect a settlement or verdict and you will never receive a bill from us.