Dr. Rodney J. Landreneau is a board-certified Thoracic Surgeon whose clinical focus is on the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer, esophageal cancer, mesothelioma, and the nonmalignant esophago- gastric problems – Hiatal hernia / Gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) / “Giant” paraesophageal hernias, and esophageal motility disorders – achalasia and Zenker’s Diverticula. He has devoted his surgical career to the development and practice of minimally invasive surgical approaches to thoracic surgical problems. He was one of the first surgeons in the world to perform Video Assisted Thoracic Surgical (VATS) anatomic lung resections (segmentectomy and lobectomy), and he has performed several thousand of these surgeries. He was a founder of the first minimally invasive esophageal thoracic surgical program in the world at the University of Pittsburgh and he has one of the largest experiences in North America with minimally invasive surgery for esophageal cancer and GERD (hiatal hernia repair). He has also focused his clinical attention to pulmonary functional saving lung cancer surgeries, such as anatomic segmentectomy vs lobectomy, and sleeve lobectomy / bronchoplasty over total pneumonectomy when anatomically and oncologic surgically appropriate. Prior to joining the TGH Thoracic Surgical Team, Dr. Landreneau was a Tenured Professor of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, and the Director of the Lung Cancer Program of the Department of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. He has also served as the Director of the Benson Cancer Center of the Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. He has been a leading Thoracic Surgical Investigator in numerous National Cancer Institute (NCI) clinical research trials over his career. His clinical cancer focus has been multidisciplinary care of lung cancer, esophageal cancer, and malignant mesothelioma patients. Doctor Landreneau is the author of over 400 peer reviewed medical/surgical research articles and the editor for over 7 textbooks related to Lung and Esophageal Surgery. He is a senior member of the Society of Thoracic Surgery, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, and the American Surgical Association.