Valerie W. Rusch, MD, FACS, a respected thoracic surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), was recently elected by her peers to the prestigious position as the 2018−2019 President-Elect of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), an organization of 80,000 members. She also received the 2018 ACS Distinguished Service Award.
One of the first American women to be board certified in thoracic surgery, Dr. Rusch rose to prominence due to her keen intellect and surgical prowess. She specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with cancers of the lung, airways, esophagus, mediastinum, chest wall, and pleura (malignant pleural mesothelioma).
One of Dr. Rusch’s focus areas includes improving outcomes for patients with malignant mesothelioma. In addition to her role as a surgeon, she has led the revision and validation of the staging system for mesothelioma, which is the basis of all research into treatments. A review of the revised staging system, which was partially funded by the Meso Foundation and took effect in early 2017, is available on our blog.
In 2015, the Meso Foundation honored Dr. Rusch with the Pioneer Award for clinical research in malignant mesothelioma. We were – and continue to be – inspired by her commitment to mesothelioma patients worldwide.
Dr. Rusch is vice-chair, clinical research, department of surgery; Miner Family Chair in Intrathoracic Cancers; attending surgeon, thoracic service, department of surgery at MSKCC; and professor of surgery at the Weill Cornell Medical College. She is active with the American Board of Thoracic Surgery (ABTS), the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS), and the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Rusch is currently Chair of the Mesothelioma Subcommittee of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) Staging Committee. She served as Chair of the Thoracic Committee for the American Joint Commission on Cancer 6th, 7th, and 8th editions of the Cancer Staging Handbook.
