Dr. Leah Backhus

Biography

Leah Backhus is a Professor in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford Medicine. She trained in general surgery at the University of Southern California and in cardiothoracic surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Backhus practices at Stanford Hospital and is the Chief of Thoracic Surgery at the VA Palo Alto. Her surgical practice focuses on general thoracic surgery with a special emphasis on thoracic oncology and minimally invasive surgical techniques. She possesses clinical expertise in adult chest wall surgeries, hyperthermic intrathoracic chemotherapy, and performs treatments for mesothelioma and pleural tumors. As Co-Director of the Thoracic Surgery Clinical Research Program, she has secured grant funding from the Veterans Affairs Administration and the National Institutes of Health. Her current research interests include imaging surveillance for lung cancer and cancer survivorship. Dr. Backhus is a member of the National Lung Cancer Roundtable and serves on the Board of Directors for the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. She is also an educator, serving as the Associate Program Director for the Thoracic Track Residency and as Chair of the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Thoracic Surgery.

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