Robert J. Cerfolio, MD, FACS, FCCP
Professor of Surgery
Chief of the Section of Thoracic Surgery
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama

Robert J. Cerfolio, MD, FACS, FCCP is professor of surgery and chief of the Section of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr Cerfolio graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree from The University of Rochester in 1984. He received his medical degree from the University of Rochester in 1988 and was later elected to Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA). Dr Cerfolio received his first two years of general surgical training at the University of Connecticut St. Francis Hospital from 1988 to 1990 and performed one year of urologic surgical training from Weill Cornell Medical College/Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York in 1991. He completed his last two years of general surgical training at the Mayo Clinic from 1991 to 1993, followed by a fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery. He received multiple awards and honors including the OT Clagett Award as the best fellow in 1995.

Dr Cerfolio’s research interests include lung cancer surgery, tracheal surgery, repair of bronchopleural fistula, video-assisted thoracoscopy, chest wall resection and reconstruction, mediastinal masses, and esophageal surgery.

Dr Cerfolio is a world-renowned surgeon and clinical researcher and has been labeled one of the busiest thoracic surgeons in the world, in recognition of performing over 1,000 operations each year over the past several years since 2003, and performing 1,154 operations in 2006 and 1,240 in 2007. He has given over 120 visiting professorships, lectures, and presentations at major international and national scientific meetings and has been selected as a visiting professor in many hospitals in the United States and all over the world, including mainland China, Hong Kong, England, Germany, Sweden, Amsterdam, Brazil, Taiwan, Spain, Portugal, and Canada. He has written or co-written over 125 original peer-reviewed articles as well as 37 book chapters. Dr Cerfolio has presented over 100 original papers at scientific meetings all over the world.