The David J. Sugarbaker Division of Thoracic Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine is a team of highly motivated, compassionate individuals who pride themselves on providing state-of-the-art clinical expertise for all thoracic surgical conditions. Dr. David J. Sugarbaker was a master surgeon and visionary in the field who established our division in 2014. He deeply cared about every one of his patients. In his relentless pursuit of understanding and achieving excellence, Dr. Sugarbaker was known as a gifted architect of building effective systems to provide patient-centered care at the highest level and a master of establishing superb teams to provide such care. In this tradition, it should be no surprise that our division sets a high bar for an unassuming, unrelenting pursuit of excellence. This philosophy resonates with each and every member of our team.
As part of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, which has achieved the highest designation of cancer care in the country from the National Cancer Institute, our faculty are exceptionally trained and internationally recognized experts in thoracic surgical oncology offering both complex, multispecialty open resections as well as cutting edge minimally invasive surgery. Indeed, we have one of the highest volume, most respected robotic thoracic surgery programs in the nation, allowing patients to undergo cancer operations with lower complication rates, less pain and a faster recovery. Our team takes pride in providing individualized, patient-centered, multidisciplinary care for all thoracic malignancies including lung cancer, esophageal cancer, mesothelioma, thymic malignancies, and sarcomas. We listen to our patients, guiding them to understand the root causes of their condition and empowering them with knowledge and support they need to regain their health.
Dr. Sugarbaker pioneered multimodal therapy for pleural mesothelioma, and in doing so, was one of the first to provide hope to thousands around the world. In 2014, he founded Baylor's Mesothelioma Treatment Center to provide holistic care with subspecialty expertise for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. In this strong tradition of excellence, Baylor remains an international leader in caring for patients with mesothelioma and continues to push the boundaries of medical science through translational research and multi-center clinical trials.
Our group performs innovative and rigorous translational research, in the clinic and in the laboratory, united by an overarching objective of advancing the standard of care for our patients. We offer an array of investigator-initiated, industry sponsored, and collaborative multi-center national trials. The Baylor College of Medicine Thoracic Surgery Research Laboratories are NIH-funded translational laboratories, which investigate mechanisms of carcinogenesis of thoracic cancers, explore cancer-immune system microenvironments, and examine ischemia-reperfusion injury in lung transplantation.
We treat all non-cancer thoracic conditions with equal vigor and expertise, including end-stage lung disease, complex airway disorders, myasthenia gravis, diaphragm disorders, thoracic outlet syndrome, and all varieties of benign esophageal conditions. Our lung transplantation program is a national leader in providing innovative multidisciplinary care and is one of the busiest in the country. Our faculty have received advanced fellowship training in the surgical treatment of gastroesophageal reflux, paraesophageal hernias, and esophageal motility disorders, and our center has a particularly robust experience in per oral endoscopic myotomy (POEM). We offer a comprehensive treatment program for patients with thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) and a cutting-edge robotic approach for its treatment. In addition, our experts in complex airway surgery routinely treat tracheal stenosis and are one of the few programs in the country to offer robotic surgery for tracheobronchomalacia.
Finally, our surgeons are devoted educators that provide state-of-the-art, comprehensive surgical training for the next generation of surgical leaders. We offer a dedicated general thoracic surgery track within the Baylor’s Thoracic Surgery Independent Fellowship and Integrated Thoracic Surgery Residency programs.
With our team’s dedication to excellence and innovation, we take pride in our tradition of providing exceptional care for our patients and will continue to strive to elevate the possibilities of what care we can provide.
If you’re reading this and you’re searching for answers for you or your loved one, we care about what you’re going through, and our team is dedicated to being there with you for every step of your journey.
Shawn Groth, M.D.
Associate Professor and Chief
David J. Sugarbaker Division of Thoracic Surgery
Baylor College of Medicine