Kazuhiro Yasufuku

Dr. Kazuhiro Yasufuku is Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto, Staff Thoracic Surgeon at the Division of Thoracic Surgery at Toronto General Hospital. He is the Director of the Interventional Thoracic Surgery Program at the University Health Network (UHN), which includes the Interventional Thoracic Surgery Animal Operating Room capable of high-end endoscopic development and the state-of-the-art Interventional Thoracic Surgery Suite at the Toronto General Hospital for clinical application of new developments. He has continued to improve the quality and capability of minimally invasive diagnostics and reduced the timeline of detection, diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.

He is a graduate of Japan’s Chiba University School of Medicine in 1992, completing his Doctor of Medicine (PhD) in 2002. Prior to joining the Division of Thoracic Surgery as a staff surgeon and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto in 2008, he had been a staff surgeon at Chiba University since 2003.

Dr. Yasufuku has been a leader in the field of minimally invasive diagnostics and therapeutics for thoracic malignancy. He co-developed the Convex Probe Endobronchial Ultrasound in collaboration with Olympus and has successfully introduced the clinical application of EBUS-TBNA in Thoracic Oncology. His clinical interest include minimally invasive diagnostic and surgery for thoracic oncology and lung transplantation. He has numerous ongoing clinical trials looking at the application of new technology in Thoracic Surgery and Interventional Pulmonology.

He is a Scientist at the Latner Thoracic Surgery Research Laboratory, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, University Health Network and his research interests include development of new technology in early diagnosis and ultra-minimally invasive thoracic surgery, translational research in thoracic image guided therapeutics (GTx), nanotechnology enabled image guided intervention for lung cancer, and molecular profiling of advanced stage lung cancer by minimally invasive procedures. He is Affiliated Faculty of Guided Therapeutics at Techna Institute and also Cross Appointed Faculty of the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Yasufuku is very active in International Societies related to Thoracic Surgery and Interventional Pulmonology. He serves as the Vice Chair of the Interventional Chest/Diagnostics Procedure Network Committee for CHEST, Secretary General of the Asian-Pacific Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology and Board of Reagents for The World Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology. He is also Associate Editor for the Journal of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology, Associate Editor for Respiration and the Editor in Chief for the World Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology News Letter. He is actively involved in innovation and currently a member of the AATS/STS (American Association for Thoracic Surgery/Society of Thoracic Surgeons) Workforce on New Technology.