Dr. Lana Schumacher-Beal

Get to Know Dr. Lana Schumacher-Beal

Dr. Lana Schumacher-Beal is the director of robotic thoracic surgery for the Massachusetts General Hospital network and leads the robotic surgery education program at the hospital.

“When I meet a new patient, I really try to educate them on the disease they are seeing me for,” Schumacher-Beal said. “When they leave my office, they are well-informed, able to make decisions on what their next step will be. That’s important.”

Robotic thoracic surgery is performed using the da Vinci Surgical System, a closed-chest procedure that allows doctors to remove diseased lung tissue through small incisions. Robotics leads to less trauma to the patient and a quicker recovery.

The use of robotics for mesothelioma is still evolving. It is used mostly as a diagnostic tool to determine who should undergo more aggressive surgery. It also can be used to help achieve a more complete resection, targeting tumor cells in the hardest-to-reach places.

Schumacher-Beal formerly served as the co-director of the Esophageal and Lung Institute at Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute. She graduated from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and did a residency at Stanford Hospitals and Clinics and a fellowship at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

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Specialties of Dr. Lana Schumacher-Beal

• Pleural mesothelioma
• Robotic surgery
• Minimally invasive surgery

Dr. Lana Schumacher-Beal’s Experience and Medical Education

• Massachusetts General Hospital
• Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute
• Stanford University Medical Center (Residency)
• University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (Fellowship)
• David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (M.D.)

Awards and Certifications

• Double board certified in general surgery and thoracic surgery
• AATS Leadership Academy, American Association for Thoracic Surgery (2018)
• Healthcare Hero Award for Innovation in Medicine, Pittsburgh Business Times (2015)

Publications of Dr. Lana Schumacher-Beal

• Phillips, W.W. et al. (2020, October). Finding the “True” No Cohort: Technical Aspects of Near-infrared Sentinel Lymph Node Mapping in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer. Annals of Surgery.
• Weksler, B., Sullivan, J.L. & Schumacher, L.Y. (2020, April). Randomized trial of bupivacaine with epinephrine versus bupivacaine liposome suspension in patients undergoing minimally invasive lung resection. Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.
• Wegner, R.E. et al. (2019, May). Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) for Oligometastatic Lung Nodules: A Single Institution Series. Frontiers in Oncology.