Our Faculty

Daniel J. Boffa, MD, is a Professor of Thoracic Surgery at Yale School of Medicine. He earned his medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine with honors and his MBA from the Heller School of Social Policy and Management at Brandeis and is a Board Certified Thoracic Surgeon. He has received numerous awards and recognitions for clinical skills, research and education, including the Dr. Charles H. Bryan Clinical Excellence Award from the Cleveland Clinic, the Thoracic and Cardiovascular Research Award and the CALGB young investigator award, and the Edward H. Storer education award from Yale and the Hassan A. Naama Award education award from Cornell. His work has been published in top Journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, the JAMA Network and Nature, as well as mainstream media including the New York Times and the LA Times....

Frank Detterbeck, MD, FACS, FCCP is a Professor of Surgery and Chief of Thoracic Surgery at Yale University and Associate Director of the Yale Cancer Center. He earned a BS in Cell Biology at the University of Michigan, and an MD degree from Northwestern University. After completing general surgery training at the Virginia Mason Clinic in Seattle, he pursued a cardiothoracic fellowship and a fellowship in thoracic transplantation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He rose to the rank of professor of surgery at the University of North Carolina during a long tenure there before being recruited to Yale University in 2005. The major focus of his career has been on thoracic oncology. In particular, he has promoted evidence-based care and multidisciplinary teamwork. He has written extensively on these and other topics, with over 150 papers and book chapters. He holds leadership...

Justin D. Blasberg, MD is an Associate Professor of Surgery and Director of Robotic Thoracic Surgery at the Yale School of Medicine. He earned his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and completed his cardiothoracic training at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr Blasberg is a Board Certified General Surgeon (ACS) and a Board Certified Thoracic Surgeon (ABTS). Dr. Blasberg's practice includes minimally invasive and open management for diseases of the esophagus, lung, mediastinum, chest wall, thoracic outlet, and diaphragm. He has a particular interest in benign and malignant diseases of the trachea, including idiopathic laryngotracheal stenosis and post-intubation stenosis, as well as complex lung resections requiring bronchoplasty. He also performs first rib resection and anterior scalenectomy for all varieties of thoracic outlet...

Andrew Dhanasopon, MD is an Assistant Professor of Surgery (Thoracic Surgery) at Yale School of Medicine.  He earned his undergraduate degree in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego and his medical degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.  He completed his General Surgery residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and his Thoracic Surgery fellowship at Yale-New Haven Hospital in 2017.  He was recruited to stay as faculty here since 2017.  Watch a video with Dr. Andrew Dhanasopon >>Dr. Dhanasopon’s practice includes minimally invasive approaches (Robotic daVinci and VATS) and traditional open  approaches to surgical management of a variety of thoracic diseases.  He has particular interests in lung cancer, esophageal cancer, hiatal hernias, mediastinal tumors, chest wall tumors, and acquired and congenital chest wall deformities such as rib fractures and...

Vincent Mase, Jr., MD, FACS, completed his fellowship in Thoracic Surgery in 2016 at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and uses the latest technologies for the surgical treatment of lung cancer, chest wall deformities and other problems that affect the chest. He is skilled in performing minimally invasive thoracic surgery for most patients.  He treats patients at the Yale New Haven campus, the Bridgeport Hospital campus, and the Park Avenue Medical Center Campus in Trumbull.“For many of my patients this is their first experience with a life-threatening illness as well as their first experience navigating through a hospital system,” Dr. Mase says. It is important to take the time to make sure patients and their family understand both the surgical and non-surgical options.   Dr. Mase thinks of all his patients as success stories. He says one of the best parts of his work is “seeing them outside of the office...

Benjamin Resio, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Surgery (Thoracic) and cares for patients as part of the Center for Thoracic Cancers at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center in New Haven. He received his medical degree with honors from Dartmouth Medical School and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society. He completed residency at Yale School of Medicine and then went on to complete a fellowship in Cardiothoracic Surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. During Dr. Resio’s training, he spent two years pursuing research in thoracic surgical oncology under the mentorship of Dr. Daniel Boffa. He has received awards related to excellence in clinical care and research, including the Intensive Care Unit resident of the year, the Stanley Dudrick Award for outstanding graduating chief, and best clinical paper at the annual meeting of the Association of...

Dr. Gavitt Woodard has a degree in neurobiology and health care policy from Harvard University and received her medical degree from Stanford School of Medicine. She completed her General Surgery Residency and Thoracic Surgery Fellowship at University of California San Francisco. During her training she was awarded an American College of Surgeons resident research award and spent two years as a thoracic oncology research fellow. In 2020 she joined the thoracic surgery faculty at Yale School of Medicine where she specializes in the care of patients with lung cancer. Her research interests are in biomarkers of early-stage non-small cell lung cancer, immune cell infiltration in the tumor immune microenvironment, immune cell dysfunction, and semi-solid lung adenocarcinoma. Her laboratory work is mentored by Dr. Lieping Chen who is credited with the discovery of PD-L1. Her research at...