Dr. Raja Flores is the Chairman of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. He is also the Steven and Ann Ames professor in Thoracic surgery at the Mount Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Flores specializes in the treatment and research for mesothelioma. He has published extensively on mesothelioma and other thoracic conditions. Dr. Flores is the Principal Investigator of the Libby Epidemiology Research Program, a 4.8 million R01 grant funded by the Agency of Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. The major goal of this research project is to focus on questions regarding the consequences of one’s health in regard to asbestos exposure.
Dr. Flores earned his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from New York University. He attended the Albert Einstein College of Medicine receiving his medical degree in 1992. Dr. Flores then spent the next 5 years completing his general surgery internship and residency at Columbia –Presbyterian Medical Center. He completed his Thoracic Oncology Clinical Research Fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston along with his Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency. He also has earned a masters degree in biostatics from Columbia University.
Dr. Flores is a native New Yorker, raised in the meat packing district by his mother. He saw drugs and violence growing up but he continues to follow the path of education which led him to become a world renown surgeon, who also speaks Spanish and Arabic. Dr. Flores can relate to the patients who have mesothelioma mostly being blue collar workers. His previous job experiences included working as a doorman, working in a deli and loading packages on UPS trucks. He has seen the challenge of mesothelioma and how it devastates patients and families lives regardless of their socioeconomic status.
One of Dr. Flores interests in his extensive published research has been comparing extra-pleural-pneumonectomy, removing the lung in addition to the lining, and pleurectomy/decortication, which is removing only the lining and preserving the lung.
Dr. Flores has been a tireless advocate for the mesothelioma community for the past 20 years. One of the most frequent comments from his patients is that he listens. Dr. Flores is a very personable, experienced clinician, who also is a world-renowned expert in mesothelioma.
