Ara Vaporciyan, M.D.
- Contact Address
- Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Box 445
Houston, TX, 770304095 - Contact Phone
- (713) 745-4533
- Contact E-Mail
- avaporci@mail.mdanderson.org
- Professional Affiliations
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- M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
Program: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery - M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
Position held: Director
Program: Oncology Cardiac & Vascular Surgery Program
- M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
- Expertise
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- Lung Cancer
- Esophageal Cancer
- Mesothelioma
- Education
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- University of Michigan Medical School, M.D., 1989
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Cellular & Molecular Biology, B.S., 1982 - 1985
- Residencies
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- Resident, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center/Texas Heart Institute, Cardiothoracic Surgery, 1996 - 1998
- Resident, The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, General Surgery, 1993 - 1996
- Resident, The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, General & Thoracic Surgery, 1990 - 1991
- Fellowships
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- Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan Medical School, Department of Pathology, 1991 - 1993
- Board Certification
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- Diplomate, American Board of Surgery, 6/10/97 – 7/1/07, 2007
- Diplomate, American Board of Thoracic Surgery, 6/4/99 – 12/31/09, 2009
- Website
- Biography/CV (will open new window)
- Biography
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Dr. Vaporciyan was born in Detroit, Michigan. He attended the Honors College at the University of Michigan from 1982 to 1985 where he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology. He received his M.D. degree from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1989 and began his General Surgery residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, Texas. In the midst of this residency he took two years to also complete a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan Medical School.
His general surgery training was completed in 1996 upon which he began his cardiothoracic training at the combined UT M. D. Anderson/Texas Heart Institute residency. Upon completion in 1998 he joined the faculty at UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery as an Assistant Surgeon and Assistant Professor of Surgery.
Dr. Vaporciyan is a Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery and of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. He is also a member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the American Thoracic Society and a member of the Texas Medical Association.
Clinical Interests
Dr. Vaporciyan's clinic interests include thoracic malignancies, specifically lung and esophageal cancer as well as mesothelioma, cardiac tumors, tumors metastatic to the lung and primary chest wall and mediastinal tumors. Dr. Vaporciyan also provides vascular surgery services for extremity and abdominal operations performed at M. D. Anderson.
Research Interests
Dr. Vaporciyan's research interests are centered on acute pulmonary injury. Standard treatment of lung cancer (ie surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy) is associated with some degree of acute lung injury, sometimes severe enough to result in added morbidity and mortality. A number of studies are underway to identify the mechanisms involved in lung injury which will set the stage for molecular and genetic manipulations to limit these processes.
In addition, novel treatments of lung cancer are being developed by other members of this department and will simultaneously be evaluated for their effects on normal lung. Methods to limit collateral damage to the normal lung will be developed in conjunction with these novel treatment approaches. Finally, clinical trials will be conducted to assess the effectiveness of new methods of limiting pulmonary injury in our patients currently being treated for lung cancer.
