Surgery News & Notes

Raphael Bueno, MD, has been named chief of the newly formed Division of Thoracic and Cardiac Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Bueno has an impressive track record of building robust multidisciplinary clinical and research programs during his time as chief of Thoracic Surgery and co-director of the Brigham’s Lung Center.

Raphael Bueno, MD
Fredric G. Levin Distinguished Chair in Thoracic Surgery and Lung Cancer Research, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Chief of Thoracic and Cardiac Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Co-Director, Lung Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School

Raphael Bueno, MD, is chief of Thoracic and Cardiac Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Fredric Levin Distinguished Chair in Thoracic Surgery and Lung Cancer Research and professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School. He completed his bachelor’s degree at Harvard College and medical training at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He subsequently trained in general surgery at the Brigham and thoracic surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and joined the Brigham thoracic faculty in 1996. Over the past 21 years, Dr. Bueno has developed robust clinical and research portfolios at the Brigham. He has also mentored many fellows and staff and previously served as the cardiothoracic residency director at the Brigham.

His clinical focus is management of thoracic malignancies particularly mesothelioma, lung cancer, and esophageal cancer. His main research interests center on the molecular events that lead to malignancy in mesothelioma and lung cancer. Specifically, Dr. Bueno focuses on developing biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and predicting therapy in malignant pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer. His research also includes tumor sequencing and identification of targetable pathways. He runs a molecular biology lab at the George W. Thorn Medical Research Building and has been funded for almost two decades by the National Cancer Institute, Department of Defense, and various foundations and industry grants. He has invented, patented and licensed several algorithms and medical devices for patient care, some having been licensed by industry. Dr. Bueno has also invented and continues to develop several novel surgical procedures and devices.

Dr. Bueno is a member of numerous prestigious national and international professional societies. He has been an invited lecturer at teaching hospitals and universities around the country and internationally. At the Brigham, he has built the largest division of thoracic surgery in the US, with 25 faculty members and five affiliated network sites in New England and co-founded the Brigham Lung Center and the Lung Research Center. Dr. Bueno continues to push the boundaries of what is possible in patient care.

Stefan G. Tullius, MD, PhD, chief of Transplant Surgery, has been appointed the Joseph E. Murray Distinguished Chair in Transplant Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Stefan G. Tullius, MD, PhD
Joseph E. Murray Distinguished Chair in Transplant Surgery
Chief, Division of Transplant Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Director, Transplant Surgery Research Laboratory
Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Tullius is the chief of the Division of Transplant Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School. He received his medical degree from the Johann-Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany; a PhD from the Charité in Berlin, Germany; and a (honorary) Master of Arts from Harvard University.  He has published over 280 peer-reviewed articles, led numerous externally funded studies, and is frequently invited to speak locally, nationally, and internationally.

His research career in transplantation immunology covers a period of more than 15 years and has greatly contributed to an improved understanding of the pathophysiology of long-term graft failure. His more recent research interests include individualized immunosuppression and the investigation of basic mechanisms of clinically relevant aspects in organ transplantation, focusing on novel routes for optimized utilization of organs for transplantation and organ preservation/perfusion. Dr. Tullius has also contributed with pioneering work in face, hand and uterus transplantation.

In addition to his clinical practice and research interests, Dr. Tullius has contributed to the international transplant community with his editorial, societal and committee activities. He is an executive editor of Transplantation, associate editor of Transplant International, and has served as associate and consulting editor of the American Journal of Transplantation. He has also served on the board of the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) and was the founding chair of the Basic Science Committee of ESOT. He has co-chaired several international meetings for The Transplantation Society (TTS), chaired several committees for the American Society of Transplantation (AST) and was the founding chair of the AST Vascular Composite Tissue Transplant Committee.

Dr. Tullius is currently a member of the National Kidney Registry (NKR) Medical Board, the Declaration of Istanbul Custodian Group (DICG), the senior treasurer of TTS and vice president of the International Society of Uterus Transplantation (ISUTx). In recognition of his contributions, Dr. Tullius has received several awards, including the Clinical Science Investigator Award of the AST, the Joseph E. Murray and Simon J. Simonian Award and the Excellence in Kidney Transplantation Award from the National Kidney Foundation.