Welcoming New Faculty – Paula A. Ugalde Figueroa, MD

Please join us in welcoming Paula A. Ugalde Figueroa, MD, as a new faculty member in the Department of Surgery.

Paula A. Ugalde Figueroa, MD
Associate Surgeon, Division of Thoracic and Cardiac Surgery

Dr. Ugalde received her medical degree from the Federal University of Bahia Medical School in Salvador, Brazil, where she also completed a master’s degree and a postdoctoral research fellowship in lung volume reduction surgery. She completed her general surgery residency at the Santo Antônio Hospital in Salvador, Brazil and a thoracic surgery residency at the Pavilhão Pereira Filho Santa Casa da Misericórdia Hospital Department of Pulmonary Disease in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Subsequently, Dr. Ugalde completed a 2-year clinical fellowship in thoracic surgery at the Hôpital Laval Department of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery in Quebec, Canada and a minimally invasive thoracic surgery fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Esophageal and Lung Surgery Institute.

She is a member of the Board of Directors and chair of the Database Committee of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), as well as a member of the American Association of Thoracic Surgery (AATS), the Society of Thoracic Surgery (STS) and Women in Thoracic Surgery (WTS), among other institutions. Previously, Dr. Ugalde worked as the director of the Thoracic Oncology Research Program at the University Institute of Cardiology and Pulmonology of Quebec of the Université Laval, where she was also a clinical professor in the Department of Surgery.

Dr. Ugalde’s clinical and research interests include innovation in minimally invasive lung surgery. She has the largest prospective database on uniportal surgery and has published extensively on using this technique for complex procedures. She is also dedicated to education and organizing several meetings and training programs, nationally and internationally.