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01. Doctor Overview

Doctor Overview

Dr. Raphael Bueno is the Chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery and Vice Chair of Surgery for Cancer and Translational Research at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a teaching affiliate of the Harvard University College of Medicine where Dr. Bueno also serves as Professor of Surgery. As a 1985 graduate of Harvard Medical School, Dr. Bueno completed a residency program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a fellowship in Thoracic Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Board certified in 1993, Dr. Bueno spent much of his early career teaching at the Harvard Medical College throughout the 1990’s. Much of Dr. Bueno’s more recent focus has been treating patients of malignant mesothelioma and lung cancer at various stages. Dr. Bueno has studied extensively the behavior of all types of mesothelioma (including peritoneal mesothelioma and pericardial mesothelioma) at a cellular level with hopes of integrating his growing knowledge of cell-level behavior into more aggressive and effective mesothelioma treatment regimens.

Dr. Bueno serves today as Program and Research Director of the International Mesothelioma Program (IMP) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School—the largest program of its kind in the world that was founded with the mission of offering patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma the most innovative and advanced treatment regimens available.

Much of Dr. Bueno’s research has been published in national medical journals, including the Journal of Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery. Among the topics explored in his publications are the molecular pathways and therapeutic targets in lung cancer, chemotherapeutic drug resistance in primary malignant pleural mesothelioma, and gene expression ratio testing targeting the classification of normal lung vs. lung tumors. U.S. News and World Report has recently lauded Dr. Bueno’s research in their physician rankings. Patients with malignant mesothelioma are urged to explore if Dr. Bueno’s expertise in the field may be beneficial to them.

02. Fast Facts

Doctor Fast Facts

Main Specialty: Thoracic Surgery

Other Interests & Specialties: Thoracic surgery, malignant mesothelioma, lung cancer, behavior of all types of mesothelioma including peritoneal and pericardial, testing for detecting cancer, development of translational tools in genomics for cancer testing, esophageal surgery, airway surgery and thoracic outlet syndrome.

Certifications, Awards & Accolades: Performed the world’s first image Image-guided Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS) procedure on a lung cancer patient, Henry A. Christian Award recipient, named one of Castle Connolly’s America’s Top Doctors, named Boston Magazine’s Top Thoracic Surgeon

Education & Experience:

  • Medical Degree from Harvard Medical School
  • Residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital
  • Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital
  • Teaching affiliate of the Harvard College University of Medicine
  • Professor of Surgery at Harvard College University of Medicine
  • Program and Research Director of the International Mesothelioma Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School
03. Publications

Publications

Relationship between margin distance and local recurrence among patients undergoing wedge resection for small (<2 cm) non-small cell lung cancerThe Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. April 2014;147(4):1169-75; discussion 1175-1177. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2013.11.056

Biomolecular and clinical practice in malignant pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer: what thoracic surgeons should knowThe European Journal Of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery: Official Journal Of The European Association For Cardio Thoracic Surgery. October 2014;46(4):602-6. doi: 10.1093/ejcts/ezu048

Gene expression ratio test distinguishes normal lung from lung tumors in solid tissue and FNA biopsiesThe Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. March 2014;16(2):267-72. doi: 10.1016/j.jmoldx.2013.11.008

Clinicopathologic characteristics of malignant mesotheliomas arising in patients with a history of radiation for Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomaJournal of Clinical Oncology. December 2013;31(36):4544-9. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2013.49.9616

Sequential Binary Gene Ratio Tests Define a Novel Molecular Diagnostic Strategy for Malignant Pleural MesotheliomaClinical Cancer Research. May 2013;19(9):2493-502. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-12-2117

Molecular pathways and therapeutic targets in lung cancerOncotarget. March 2014;5(6):1392-1433. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.1891

Preoperative cetuximab, irinotecan, cisplatin, and radiation therapy for patients with locally advanced esophageal cancerOncologist. 2013;18(3):281-287. doi: 10.1634/theoncologist.2012-0208

Hyperthermic intraoperative pleural cisplatin chemotherapy extends interval to recurrence and survival among low-risk patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma undergoing surgical macroscopic complete resectionJournal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. April 2013;145(144):955-963. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2012.12.037

The role of surgical cytoreduction in the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma: meeting summary of the International Mesothelioma Interest Group Congress, September 11-14, 2012, Boston, MassJournal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. April 2013;145(4):909-910. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2013.01.039

Vorinostat eliminates multicellular resistance of mesothelioma 3D spheroids via restoration of Noxa expressionPLoS One. 2012;7(12):e52753. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052753

Clinical and pathological features of three-year survivors of malignant pleural mesothelioma following extrapleural pneumonectomyEuropean Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery. August 2011;40(2):298-303. doi: 10.1016/j.ejcts.2010.12.024

Targeted inhibition of multiple receptor tyrosine kinases in mesothelioma. Neoplasia. January 2011;13(1):12-22.

Fine-needle aspiration biopsies for gene expression ratio-based diagnostic and prognostic tests in malignant pleural mesotheliomaClinical Cancer Research. January 2011;17(2):310-316. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-0806

04. Mesothelioma Clinical Trials

Mesothelioma Clinical Trials by Raphael Bueno, M.D.

Dr. Bueno is associated with the following clinical trials:

Prospectively Collected Pleural Biopsies for Validation of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Prognostic Biomarkers


Conditions: Mesothelioma, Mesothelioma, Malignant

Last Updated: March 23, 2022

Status: Recruiting

Locations: Boston, MA.

Pembrolizumab + Defactinib In Pleural Mesothelioma


Conditions: Mesothelioma, Mesothelioma, Malignant

Last Updated: November 16, 2020

Status: Withdrawn

Locations: Boston, MA. Boston, MA.