Emory's General Thoracic Surgery Center
One of the nation's top thoracic surgery centers in clinical volume
Clinical Overview | Research Overview | Surgical Team
Clinical Overview
The Emory General Thoracic Surgery Center has developed and refined various treatments for disorders of the structures and organs of the chest, particularly the lungs and esophagus. Emphasizing and applying minimally invasive methods whenever appropriate, the center is one of only a handful of clinical programs in the country that offers minimally invasive esophagectomy, lobectomy, and sympathectomy for hyperhidrosis. Additionally, the center is the only service in Georgia to accept Medicare patients for lung volume reduction surgery. Our surgeons are also the surgical staff of the Emory Lung Transplant Program.
Conditions and diseases treated by Emory general thoracic surgeons include:
- Achalasia
- Diaphragmatic paralysis
- Emphysema
- Esophageal cancer
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease
- Hiatal hernia
- Paraesophageal hernia
- Hyperhidrosis
- Lung cancer
- Malignant pleural effusion
- Mesothelioma
- Metastatic cancer to the lungs (colon, renal, sarcoma, etc.)
- Pericardial effusion
- Thoracic outlet syndrome
- Tracheal stenosis and/or cancer
Research Overview
The center has dramatically increased the number of thoracic surgery-based cancer protocols at Emory by being the only academic site participating in clinical trials sponsored by the prestigious American College of Surgeons Oncology Group, a research organization established primarily to evaluate the surgical management of patients with malignant solid tumors. The center is also directly involved in setting national and international standards for quality assurance in its field by being a data-collection site for the General Thoracic Surgery Database of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
The Cardiothoracic Research Laboratory of the nationally known Carlyle Fraser Heart Center coordinates many of the center's clinical and laboratory research projects, including investigation of the use of proteinomics for the diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma, evaluation of hyperthermic pleural lavage for the treatment of malignant pleural effusions, and the role of GERD in chronic rejection in lung transplantation.
Surgical Team
- Dr. Daniel Miller is the Kamal A. Mansour Professor of Thoracic Surgery and Chief of the General Thoracic Surgery Center. He is also the Surgical Director of the Thoracic Oncology Program of the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University as well as Co-Chair of Emory's Respiratory Center. In 2003, Dr. Miller initiated the Emory Hyperhidrosis Center, the only service of its type in Georgia offering minimally invasive microthoracoscopic sympathectomy for treating hyperhidrosis.
- Dr. Felix Fernandez earned his MD from Wayne State University School of Medicine and completed both his general surgery residency and cardiothoracic surgery fellowship at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Washington University School of Medicine. His primary clinical site is the Atlanta VA Medical Center, where he focuses on thoracic oncology and lung transplantation.
- Dr. Seth Force is the Surgical Director of the Emory Lung Transplant Program. Since coming to Emory in 2003, Dr. Force has overseen the tripling of the number of adult lung transplants performed per year. He recently began serving on the Workforce on Surgical Treatment of End-Stage Cardio-pulmonary Disease of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and has initiated the General Thoracic Surgery Center's robotic surgery effort at Emory University Hospital.
- Dr. Kamal Mansour, who practices at the Atlanta VA Medical Center, perfected a technique replacing the esophagus with a section of bowel. In 2001 he was awarded the Shield of Medicine by the Medical Scientific Society of Egypt for being one of the ten most outstanding Egyptian doctors in the world, and in 2008 he received the prestigious Emory Medal for distinguished service and notable professional and academic achievement.
- Practicing at Emory since 1974, Dr. Joseph Miller, Jr., served as the Director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery from 1991-1996, was president of the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association in 2003, an examiner for the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and American Family Practice Physician, and has received numerous local and national Best Doctor awards.
- Dr. Alan Picken's clinical specialties include minimally invasive pulmonary resection, sympathectomy for hyperhidrosis, lung transplantation, esophageal surgery and treating other surgical diseases of the chest, while his primary research interests are clinical and translational lung cancer research and minimally invasive surgical technology. He came to Emory in 2008 from the University of Michigan Health System, where he was the thoracic surgery workforce coordinator.
