What I Learned in the Operating Room
An esophagectomy is often described as among the most taxing and complicated operations a human being can have. On this episode of Road to Resilience, Dr. Raja Flores, Chair of Thoracic Surgery at Mount Sinai, discusses his pioneering work treating lung and esophageal cancers. Dr. Flores reflects on his journey from trauama surgery to thoracic surgery and the unique challenges faced by patients, many of whom are working-class individuals who were exposed to asbestos or are struggling with addiction. Dr. Flores also highlights the importance of humanity, humility, and trust int he patient-doctor relationship, reminding us that resilience often stems from love, family, and community in the face of life’s greatest uncertainties.
Stephen Calabria: [00:00:00] From the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, this is Road to Resilience, a podcast about facing adversity. I'm your host, Stephen Calabria, Mount Sinai's Director of Podcasting.
On this episode, we welcome Raja Flores, MD. Dr. Flores is the chair for the Mount Sinai Health System's Department of Thoracic Surgery and the Anne Ames Professor in Thoracic Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Dr. Flores is regarded as a pioneer in treating both esophageal cancer and mesothelioma, the cancer developed from exposure to asbestos.
Dr. Flores walks us through what cancer treatment entails, the resilience shown by patients and their families, and how he continually witnesses patients bounce back from the most devastating of diagnoses.
We're honored to have Dr. Raja Flores on the show.
Dr. Raja Flores, welcome to Road to Resilience.
Raja Flores: Thanks for having me.
Stephen Calabria: Could you give us an overview of your background here at Mount Sinai?
Raja Flores: [00:01:00] I've been at Mount Sinai now for 15 years. Before I arrived here. I was at Sloan Kettering for 10 years, specializing in lung cancer, esophageal cancer, and mesothelioma, the cancer you get from asbestos exposure. And I moved here 15 years ago. Time flies.
Stephen Calabria: So you specialize in thoracic surgery. First of all, what is the thorax and what kinds of surgery does a person's thorax typically undergo?
Raja Flores: So your thorax is basically your chest from the bottom of the ribs to your clavicles and thoracic surgery is a sub category of cardiothoracic surgery.
So when you do your training after medical school, you do five years of general surgery, and then you do two to three years of cardiothoracic surgery, which means the heart and everything else in the chest.