Thomas K. Varghese

Description

Dr. Thomas Varghese Jr. is the Chief Value Officer at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, Head of the Section of General Thoracic Surgery, and Program Director of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship at the University of Utah. He is also an Associate Professor (Tenure Track) in the Department of Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine. Dr. Varghese`s clinical interests are in benign and malignant disease of the lungs, esophagus, chest wall and mediastinum; and minimally invasive applications for general thoracic surgery. Dr. Varghese"s research interests include systems-based interventions for the uptake of research findings into healthcare (implementation science); educational interventions for patient-centered care; the use of social media in public health initiatives; and health services research using population-based data, cost &; utility analyses and patient-derived outcomes. Dr. Varghese was recruited to the University of Utah from the University of Washington, where he served as the Director of Thoracic Surgery at Harborview Medical Center; Associate Program Director of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency; and Co-Chair of the Surgical Standardization Committee of the UW Medicine system. While at UW, he helped create the Strong for Surgery program (www.StrongforSurgery.org), a systems-based intervention aimed at optimizing patient health before elective surgery, now active at 50 clinical sites (205 surgical teams) in Washington and Oregon. Dr. Varghese holds national leadership positions in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Thoracic Surgery Directors Association, American College of Surgeons, Joint Council of Thoracic Surgery Education, and the Surgical Outcomes Club. At the University of Utah, Dr. Varghese is a member of an active collaborative of Health Services Researchers that embraces the Triple Aim (outstanding patient-centered care, improving the health of the population we serve, reducing the cost of care) with the goal of maintaining the University of Utah at the highest level of surgical care in the country.