Joel Dunning is a Consultant Thoracic Surgeon from the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough in the UK. He graduated in Medicine from Oxford University in 1997 and did his PhD at Manchester University in 2002.

He is Co-Editor in Chief of www.CTSNet.org the world’s largest cardiothoracic surgery website. He was the associate editor for cardiothoracic surgery for the EJCTS for 8 years and previously developed a literature review section in the ICVTS called Best Evidence Topics. He has been on the EACTS clinical guidelines committee since 2007 and has authored 5 EACTS guidelines.

He is also currently Chairman of the STS workforce on resuscitation after arrest following cardiac surgery and founded a course to better prepare for arrests after cardiac surgery (www.csu-als.com) culminating in an STS guideline published this year on this subject. A key passion of his is to promote the implementation of this guideline in all cardiac surgical centres worldwide to improve the quality of care patients receive after heart surgery.

In thoracic surgery, he has a particular interest in novel forms of VATS Lobectomy and Robotic thoracic surgery. He has experience with anterior and posterior approach VATS lobectomy, uniportal lobectomy, subxiphoid uniportal lobectomy, and has developed a novel version of lobectomy called microlobectomy ( www.microlobectomy.com). He is PI of the VIOLET study – a randomised study of VATS versus open lobectomy, PULMICC – an RCT for colorectal metastases, a radiolabelled nodule excision study and is a proctor for Intuitive for robotic surgery and for Dextera for the microcutter, a 5mm diameter stapling device. He was also recently guest editor in the annals of cardiothoracic surgery for an issue on minimally invasive mediastinal surgery. His interests include sharing videos on thoracic surgery with colleagues and travelling to meet new cardiothoracic surgeons worldwide to hear about their great new ideas!

For more information see www.joeldunning.co.uk

Joshua R. Sonett MD FACS is the Edward C. and Anne K. Weiskopf Professor of Surgical Oncology (in Surgery) at CUMC, Chief of General Thoracic Surgery and Director, The Price Family Center for Comprehensive Chest Care, Lung and Esophageal Center. He is instrumental in making the Thoracic Surgery section at Columbia University Medical Center one of the best in the U.S. and he is one of the youngest professors of surgery at a major academic institution in the United States.

Dr. Sonett is best known for his work on the multidisciplinary treatment of lung and esophageal malignancies. Leading work in minimally invasive treatment of lung and esophageal cancer, Dr. Sonett and his team at Columbia are innovators in the development and teaching techniques of Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS) and Minimally Invasive Esophageal (MIE) surgery, allowing surgeons to incorporate these techniques into their daily practices. Dr. Sonett and his team make up one of the few programs in the country to employ a combination of maximal chemo and radiation and surgical therapies in the treatment of locally advanced lung malignancies. He is also a leader in multi-modality therapies for lung and esophageal cancers, and a pioneer in endo-bronchial palliation of benign and malignant airway stenosis. In the clinical area of lung transplantation, Dr. Sonett is best known for developing an extended-donor lung transplant criteria protocol. Extended donor criteria (EDC) applies to the use of organs that don’t meet the usual criteria for transplantation due to various health problems, but are still healthy enough for a successful transplant (Liver MD 2006).

Dr. Sonett received his MD from Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University Medical School, and completed his surgical residency at the University of Massachusetts, and Thoracic Fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Professional Memberships include the New York Thoracic Society, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and member of the American Association for Thoracic Surgeons Dr. Sonett has received numerous award and honors including annual awards to America’s Top Doctors, Castle Connolly America’s Top Doctors for Cancer, New York Magazine’s Best Doctors, the Barbara Neibauer Celebration of Life Award, Foundation for Thymic Cancer and the Humanitarian Award, Chesed of New Square.