Your Medical Team at the University of Colorado Cancer Center for Lung and Chest Cancers
Thoracic surgeons John Mitchell and Michael Weyant
are part of the multidisciplinary lung cancer team
at the University of Colorado Cancer Center.
The University of Colorado Cancer Center has a multidisciplinary team approach to care.
That means we bring all types of cancer specialists – including surgeons, oncologists, pathologists, radiologists, nurses, social workers, geneticists, counselors and more – to review your case, follow its progress and develop ways to achieve the best results.
Medical knowledge, as you might know, doubles every four years. Keeping up with it all is often hard for a community physician. But because each attending physician here is on the faculty of the renowned University of Colorado School of Medicine, each not only knows the latest proven treatments and research, but teaches it.
What it means for you
It means each doctor on your care team has superior training in his or her area of expertise. These doctors then combine their specialties to create a patient-focused approach for each individual patient.
The CU Cancer Center Thoracic Oncology Team:
- Provides state-of-the-art care for those diagnosed with lung cancer and related cancers
- Is internationally recognized as a center for developing and setting new standards in the treatment of lung and related cancers
- Is nationally recognized as a center for second opinions on all aspects of lung cancer and thoracic cancer care
A Partnership of Different Specialists
Below are the kinds of cancer-fighting experts at your service as part of the CU Cancer Center Thoracic Oncology Team.
Medical Oncologists
Doctors who study and treat cancer. They focus on drug-based treatments to control, slow or kill cancer cells.
These doctors often function as the “quarterbacks” of the multidisciplinary team. Our medical oncologists are experts in determining which drugs work in which people, specialists in combining anti-cancer drugs with radiotherapy and surgery for the best possible outcomes and pioneers in developing new drugs for treating lung cancer and other cancers of the chest.
The University of Colorado Cancer Center lung and thoracic medical oncologists:
- Paul A. Bunn, Jr., MD
- D. Ross Camidge, MD, PhD
- Robert Doebele, MD, PhD
- Ana B. Oton, MD
- Janelle Wagner, NP
Radiation Oncologists
Doctors who use X-rays and other types of medical radiation to control or kill cancer cells in the body. Our Radiation oncologists are experts in delivering high doses of radiotherapy very accurately in a small number of visits (“stereotactic body radiation therapy”) and specialize in combining radiation therapy with other treatments such as surgery or chemotherapy.
The CU Cancer Center lung and thoracic radiation oncologists:
- Laurie Gaspar, MD, MBA
- Brian Kavanagh, MD
- David Raben, MD
Thoracic Surgeons
Doctors who have received extensive training in operating on the chest. Surgery involves removing cancer from the body through an operation. It can also be used to improve the symptoms caused by cancer, for example, by draining fluid around the lungs affecting breathing.
Our thoracic surgeons are Colorado’s only board-certified thoracic surgeons; they specialize in doing only lung and chest surgery. They are experts in minimally invasive surgery for lung cancer, typically allowing patients to recover more quickly than they would from conventional surgery. They specialize in airway reconstruction to leave behind more normal lung after an operation, and are pioneers in lung transplantation for rare types of lung cancer.
The CU Cancer Center lung and thoracic surgeons:
- John Mitchell, MD
- Michael Weyant, MD
Other experts on the team
- Interventional pulmonologists – National leaders in developing and using bronchoscopies to look directly inside the lungs to take biopsies or open blocked airways.
- Pathologists – World experts in diagnosing and classifying different lung cancers using microscopy and other laboratory techniques.
- Radiologists – National leaders in interpreting X-rays and specialist scans of the chest.
The CU Cancer Center team also includes national leaders in preventing lung cancer and in using CT scans and other techniques to screen for lung cancers in high-risk individuals.