David B. Nelson, MD
Dr. David Nelson is a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. He specializes in general thoracic surgery and complex lung, esophageal, chest wall, and mediastinal malignancies, including lung cancer and malignant pleural mesothelioma.
Dr. Nelson has expertise in minimally invasive surgery. His practice includes working with a multidisciplinary team to manage both benign and malignant disorders of the lung, esophagus, foregut, pleural space, mediastinum, diaphragm, and trachea.
Education and Career
Dr. Nelson attended Vanderbilt University for his undergraduate education, earning a degree in Molecular Biology with summa cum laude honors. He attended Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and after earning his medical degree completed a clinical internship and residency in General Surgery at Loma Linda University Health. He also completed a research fellowship and a Cardiothoracic Surgery fellowship at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
In addition to his medical education, Dr. Nelson earned a master’s degree in clinical research at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, which included writing and designing a clinical trial investigating a novel ablation device to treat lung malignancies. That trial is currently being funded and enrolling patients at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.[1]
Professional Memberships and Activities
Dr. Nelson serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and is an ad hoc reviewer for other thoracic surgery journals. He is also a member of several professional societies, including:
- American Society of Clinical Oncology
- Society of Thoracic Surgeons
- American College of Surgeons
Research
Dr. Nelson has authored several book chapters on thoracic surgery and is an active researcher. His areas of interest include Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS), thoracic surgery, minimally invasive and robotic surgery, lung cancer molecular mutations, lung cancer, esophageal cancer, endoscopic mucosal resection, thymic disease, chest wall malignancies, and neoadjuvant therapy.[1]
He has co-authored published studies on malignant pleural mesothelioma, including:[1]
Defining the role of adjuvant radiotherapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma: a propensity-matched landmark analysis of the National Cancer Database. Nelson DB, Rice DC, Mitchell KG, Tsao AS, Vaporciyan AA, Antonoff MB, Hofstetter WL, Walsh GL, Swisher SG, Roth JA, Gomez DR, Mehran RJ, Sepesi B, Journal of thoracic disease 2019 Apr 11 4 1269-1278
Predictors of trimodality therapy and trends in therapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma. Nelson DB, Rice DC, Niu J, Atay SM, Vaporciyan AA, Antonoff MB, Hofstetter WL, Walsh GL, Swisher SG, Roth JA, Tsao AS, Gomez DR, Giordano SH, Mehran RJ, Sepesi B, European Journal of cardio-thoracic surgery: official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery 2018 May 53 5 960-966
Long-Term Survival Outcomes of Cancer-Directed Surgery for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: Propensity Score Matching Analysis. Nelson DB, Rice DC, Niu J, Atay S, Vaporciyan AA, Antonoff M, Hofstetter WL, Walsh GL, Swisher SG, Roth JA, Tsao A, Gomez D, Giordano SH, Mehran R, Sepesi B, Journal of Clinical Oncology: official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2017 Oct 35 29 3354-3362
