Raphael Bueno, M.D.

Dr. Raphael Bueno is a thoracic surgeon and professor of surgery with board certifications in surgery and surgical critical care. He is an expert in the field of mesothelioma treatment and research. At Mesothelioma.com, he is a medical reviewer and contributor.

In 1985, Dr. Bueno graduated from Harvard Medical School, where he currently teaches. He completed his residency and fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he is now the Chief of the Division of Thoracic and Cardiac Surgery.

Dr. Bueno’s work combines surgical practice with research into new treatments for asbestos cancers and other diseases. In 2013, he performed a first-of-its-kind video-assisted surgery on a lung cancer patient. His research often focuses on tools to help predict and diagnose mesothelioma.

Dr. Bueno is the leader of the International Mesothelioma Program (IMP). The program, dedicated to extending survival and working toward a cure, is the largest of its kind in the world. It treats patients, supports families and explores new treatments through clinical trials. IMP was founded by the late Dr. David J. Sugarbaker, a colleague of Dr. Bueno and one of the foremost experts in mesothelioma during his lifetime.

For his work, Dr. Bueno has been profiled by Boston Magazine, the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation and other publishers.

Selected Publications

Dr. Bueno has written or co-written over 100 articles in peer-reviewed medical journals, with many focused on mesothelioma and other asbestos cancers. His work has appeared in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research and numerous other publications.

High-dose IV magnesium in mesothelioma patients receiving surgery with hyperthermic intraoperative cisplatin: Pilot studies and design of a phase II randomized clinical trial. J Surg Oncol. 2023 Dec;128(7):1141–9.

Pleurectomy decortication is the preferred surgical procedure in pleural mesothelioma. Transl Lung Cancer Res. 2023 Feb 28;12(2):190–2.

The molecular basis of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Thorac Surg Clin. 2020 Nov;30(4):383–93.

Mesothelioma: Scientific clues for prevention, diagnosis, and therapy. CA Cancer J Clin. 2019 Sep;69(5):402–29.

Surgery in malignant pleural mesothelioma. J Thorac Oncol. 2018 Nov;13(11):1638–54.

Comprehensive genomic analysis of malignant pleural mesothelioma identifies recurrent mutations, gene fusions and splicing alterations. Nat Genet. 2016 Apr;48(4):407–16.