News & Events

David M. Jablons, M.D., FACS, Professor and Chief of General Thoracic Surgery and Program Leader of the Thoracic Oncology Program, was recently inducted into into the American Surgical Society. The American Surgical Association was founded in 1880 and describes itself as the nation's oldest and most prestigious surgical organization. Among its members are the nation's most prominent surgeons from leading academic medical institutions, many of whom are Department of Surgery Chairs. Membership also includes leading surgeons from around the world.

Edward Kim, M.D. and Pierre R. Theodore, M.D. will be among the recipients of 2011 Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educator's Excellence in Teaching Awards at  the Academy's annual Celebration on Monday, September 19, 2011. The Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators is dedicated to creating an environment that enhances the status of teachers at UCSF, promotes and rewards teaching excellence, fosters curricular innovation and encourages scholarship in medical education. 

Researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that screening smokers and former smokers with spiral CT scans reduced  lung cancer deaths by 20%, reaffirming earlier findings in the NLST screening trial. David M. Jablons, M.D., Professor and Chief of Thoracic Surgery and Program Leader of the Thoracic Oncology Program noted the study's significance: "This is a landmark study and a landmark day for millions of people at risk for lung cancer. This study vindicates numerous pioneering investigators worldwide who have advocated for the utility and benefit of low-dose spiral CT scans [...]

The UCSF Thoracic Oncology Laboratory, led by David Jablons, M.D., Professor and Chief of Thoracic Surgery and Program Leader of Thoracic Oncology, recently launched its first Lung Cancer Joint Laboratory in China, an alliance with Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Disease (China National Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease) and the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College. A signing ceremony was held in Guangzhou, China.

Thierry Jahan, M.D., an Associate Professor of Medicine Bonnie J. and Anthony Addario Endowed Chair in Thoracic Oncology, is one of four recipients of the 2010 UCSF Medical Center Exceptional Physician Award, an honor recognizing dedication to outstanding patient care and to the instiutions' values of Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Diversity and Excellence. One of the region's most highly regarded thoracic oncologists and sarcoma specialists.

In a lead editorial accompanying interim results from the NELSON lung cancer screening trial, authors James L. Mulshine, M.D.  (left) and David M. Jablons, M.D.  (right), discuss, in the December 3rd, 2009 New England Journal of Medicine, the diagnostic utility of volume growth as a tool for determining if lung nodules found on CT screening are malignant. "The results suggest that the efficiency of the diagnostic workup for lung cancer can be improved by integrating the measurement of volume growth of lung nodules as an indicator of clinically significant lung cancer while limiting the need [...]

Last October, opera singer Zheng Cao fell during a performance and had no idea why.  Later, it turned out she had advanced lung cancer. Now, as a result of treatment with a new type of targeted therapy, her cancer is retreating. Personalized medicine - that is, customizing the treatment to the patient's tumor -is rapidly gaining ground in the treatment of lung cancer.This has given hope to patients like Zheng Cao that their lung cancer can be successfully treated.

The Bonnie J. and Anthony Addario Endowed Chair in Thoracic Oncology has been created in the Department of Surgery in honor of Thierry Jahan, M.D., an Associate Professor of Medicine at UCSF, who will occupy the Chair as its first recipient. Dr. Jahan is the one of the region's most highly regarded thoracic oncologists and sarcoma specialists, known among patients, their families, and colleagues for his deep sense of empathy and compassion. Dr. Jahan  co-founded the multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program with David Jablons M.D.. On July 9, 2009, there was a celebration held at the [...]

"We're glad to reach this significant point in our program because it means that a great number of patients are receiving improvements to their health that could not otherwise be achieved without an organ transplant," said Charles Hoopes, MD, director of Cardiopulmonary Transplantation at UCSF since 2002. "UCSF has a highly experienced transplant support team and is dedicated to research focused on continued improvement in patient survival and outcomes for transplanted organs."

SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle Online) reports on lung cancer survivor Bonnie J. Addario and her inspiration to start an organization, The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation, to make  strides in the fight against lung cancer.  Addario received the Jefferson Award for her work. Bonnie J. Addario broke barriers by becoming one of the country's top female oil company executives. Now, she is parlaying her professional prowess into running one of the country's largest lung-cancer foundations Twenty-two years ago, with just a high school education, Addario started out as a secretary and [...]

Dr. Jasleen Kukreja "is not the first surgeon to perform a minimally invasive lobectomy at UCSF, but she may be a pioneer in the two-finger clamp technique, because her predecessors are men who have a tougher time squeezing in both fingers. Last summer, she became the first doctor to be hired by UCSF to focus primarily on this discipline."

Before an overflow crowd at the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center, members of the Thoracic Oncology Program speak about the challenges of lung cancer and the progress that has been made in finding effective treatments and one day a cure.

Afghan Boy's U.S. Surgery A Success: 7-year old with Heart Defect Came to U.S. With Help of  U.S. Army Doctor Jonas said Umer owes his life to Maj. T. Sloane Guy, an Army surgeon who took up his cause while on duty in Afghanistan. Guy and others had been working to get Umer to the United States for more than a year.

SFGate.com reports on the collaboration of David M. Jablons, M.D. and Jeff Peterson whose wife Karen and died from mesothelioma, a devastating disease. Dr. David Jablons couldn't save Karen Peterson's life or even extend it. But he could give quality to whatever life she had left. That turned out to be about nine months, long enough for her twin boys to see her waterskiing on Lake Tahoe and boogie-boarding in Oceanside and laughing more than coughing.  Jablons, chief cardiothoracic surgeon at UCSF, was the last in a line of specialists Peterson had sought out coast to coast in a 22-month [...]

SFGate.com reports on the the journey of Mike Wooldridge after getting a devastating diagnosis and being turned away for surgery by M.D. Anderson, and being told it was incurable, only to get treatment at UCSF that enabled him to run in a marathon not long after that. Running a marathon without a third of your right lung might seem impossible, but for Mike Wooldridge it's just another day on the road.  Diagnosed with a fist-sized tumor in his right lung a year ago, the Pleasant Hill Web site designer was initially given a 10 to 15 percent chance of surviving. Today he's running 30 miles a [...]

"We will discuss the most sophisticated approaches to lung cancer in the world," said David Jablons, MD, UCSF associate professor of surgery and program leader of the UCSF Thoracic Oncology Program. "Both the scope of the problem and the barriers to care in China are dramatic, but we hope this conference can help rally the international scientific community to address the crisis." Jablons, who conducts translational research into targeted cancer therapies, is director of the UCSF Thoracic Oncology Laboratory."