Dr. Burt is a robotic surgeon, a surgeon-scientist and clinical trialist, an editor, and an innovator and entrepreneur.

He leads an NIH-funded research laboratory and has completed several investigator-initiated clinical trials of novel immunotherapeutic strategies for patients with thoracic malignancies. His contributions to the field of thoracic surgery are extended through his role as Feature Editor at the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

Dr. Burt completed his undergraduate education at New York University and then pursued his medical degree at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He completed residencies in general surgery and thoracic surgery at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital of Harvard Medical School. He is board-certified in both Surgery and Thoracic Surgery and has advanced expertise in robotic thoracic surgery.

Dr. Feller-Kopman is the Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and a Professor of Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine.  His areas of clinical expertise include all aspects of interventional pulmonology, including minimal invasive diagnostic procedures to evaluate suspicious lung nodules and enlarged lymph nodes in the chest as well as the evaluation and management of malignant and non-malignant central airway obstruction.  In addition, he specializes in the evaluation and management of pleural diseases with minimally invasive procedures such as ultrasound guided thoracentesis, indwelling pleural catheters and thoracoscopy with pleurodesis.  He is a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians and a member of the American Thoracic Society, the American Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology and the Miller-Coulson Academy of Clinical Excellence at Johns Hopkins.

Robert McKenna, M.D., is a board-certified thoracic surgeon who pioneered minimally invasive lung cancer surgery. He has taught many thoracic surgeons around the world how to perform this surgery. With nearly 30 years of experience, Dr. McKenna is well-respected in the medical community for his clinical and research contributions. Dr Mckenna joined Providence Medical Institute in Santa Monica in November 2015.

Dr. McKenna has published more than 250 peer-reviewed articles and has authored two books and 48 book chapters on topics related to his specialty. Dr. McKenna has presented his research findings to both national and international audiences. He is a member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and the American Association for Thoracic Surgery.

Dr. Mintzman’s clinical interests concentrate on Thoracic Surgical Oncology, and specifically the application of robotics for complex tumors. He previously completed all the requirements for certification under the American Association of Thoracic Surgery Robotics Fellowship, and he currently serves as the Medical Director of Robotic Surgery for the University of Utah Health System. As a nationally known expert in robotic surgery, he routinely serves as faculty for robotic programs to train practicing cardiothoracic surgeons.

As a Huntsman Cancer Institute Investigator, Dr. Mitzman’s research interests focus on clinical outcomes and optimizing treatment approach for lung and esophageal cancer. He has specific expertise in cost-effectiveness, and determining the appropriate balance of cost and innovation in surgical technology. His research has been presented at both the Society for Thoracic Surgeons and American Association of Thoracic Surgery annual meetings. He has also been an invited author on numerous textbook chapters utilized by both trainees and practicing thoracic surgeons. Dr. Mitzman is currently the Associate Physician Lead for Thoracic Clinical Trials in the HCI Clinical Trials Research Group, bringing the most cutting edge treatments to patients with both early and advanced thoracic malignancies.

He currently serves as a Senior Editor for the Annals of Thoracic Surgery and an editorial board member for the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. In addition, he has been invited as a peer-reviewer for other numerous high impact journals, including the Journal for Surgical Research and Innovations.

Dr. Swanson is board certified in thoracic surgery. He has been listed as one of America’s Top Doctors by Castle Connolly and named a top thoracic surgeon by Boston Magazine. He recently retired after a nearly 30-year career. His clinical interests have included minimally invasive thoracic surgery and lung cancer. He served as Principal Investigator of Navigation Science’s pilot clinical study of the NaviSci™ System’s in early stage lung cancer. Dr. Swanson’s research was focused on better understanding early-stage lung cancer, its biologic fingerprint and clinical behavior.

Dr. Swanson received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed his general and cardiothoracic surgical residencies at the Brigham. He completed a fellowship in vascular biology at Harvard Medical School and a thoracic oncology fellowship at the Brigham.

Dr. Velotta’s interests involve all aspects of thoracic surgery, especially minimally invasive lung and esophageal surgery, image-guided surgical techniques for small lung nodules, and multimodality treatment of mesothelioma. In addition to his full-time clinical duties at Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center, he is a clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine. His role entails teaching and training UCSF medical students and surgery residents throughout the course of the year. He is very interested in surgical quality research pertaining to outcomes in minimally invasive surgeries for lung and esophageal cancer. He currently has ongoing studies pertaining to novel ways to provide better pain relief after thoracic surgery, multimodality treatment of mesothelioma, and the incidence and outcomes for never-smokers with lung cancer.