Dr. Wood is a world-renowned surgeon in thoracic oncology, specializing in lung and esophageal cancer. He is a national and international leader in the management of complex airway disease and in the surgical management of end-stage lung disease. Dr. Wood is The Henry N. Harkins Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery for the University of Washington.
I try to take care of each patient as if he or she were a member of my own family. I strongly believe that prompt and efficient evaluation and clear explanations help patients make good decisions. Our goal is that every cancer patient will have a work-up completed and a treatment plan defined within a few days of his or her first phone call to our office.
Thoracic oncology (lung, esophageal, mediastinal and chest wall tumors); benign and malignant airway disease; and emphysema surgery
- The Henry N. Harkins Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery, University of Washington School of Medicine
- Medical Degree: Harvard Medical School
- Internship: Massachusetts General Hospital
- Residencey: Massachusetts General Hospital
- Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital
Board Certifications
- American Board of Surgery, 1990
- American Board of Thoracic Surgery, 1993
- Dr. Wood was recognized in 2014, 2015 and 2016 as a "Top Doctor" in Seattle magazine's annual survey.
- Dr. Wood was recognized as a 2013 "Top Doctor" in Seattle Met magazine's annual survey.
Douglas Wood, MD received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University and trained in general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He then was recruited to Seattle to lead a new section of general thoracic surgery at UW Medicine. He focuses his practice in these areas where he has led the UW thoracic group to be the leading referral center for patients from all over the Pacific Northwest.
Research Interests
Dr. Wood developed one of the early programs in lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) for severe emphysema, initiating the program at UW in 1994. He was a major participant in the National Emphysema Treatment Trial (NETT) for which he was a co-principal investigator and wrote the surgical protocols for Medicare and the National Institutes of Health. The Agency for Health Research and Quality also sponsored a cost-effectiveness analysis of LVRS within the treatment trial, the largest cost-effectiveness study ever performed in a clinical study. He was the primary NETT clinician involved in the cost-effectiveness study; he subsequently worked directly with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) officials in developing the national coverage determinations for LVRS and the site selection criteria.
His second major area of clinical interest is tracheobronchial pathology, and he has developed a large interventional bronchoscopy program that complements the surgical airway program at UW. This interest in bronchoscopic intervention and surgical therapy for emphysema has served as the basis for his involvement in the evaluation of endobronchial therapy for emphysema. He is one of the principal investigators of the Spiration IBV™ clinical trial, which is evaluating the effectiveness of endobronchial valves for the palliation of severe emphysema.
Teaching and Leadership
Dr. Wood has been devoted to graduate medical education throughout his career. He is The Henry N. Harkins Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery for the University of Washington. He is also the chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Lung Cancer Screening Panel, the vice-chair of the NCCN Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Panel, past director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, and past chair of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Thoracic Surgery Residency Review Committee.
He has been on the program committees of each of the major U.S. cardiothoracic and oncology societies and has led the general thoracic postgraduate programs at the thoracic surgical scientific meetings. Dr. Wood is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, holds an honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, honorary memberships in the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland and La Sociedad Mexicana de Cirujanos Torácicos Generales. He has also served as the International Councilor for both the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery and the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons and has been a visiting professor at over 50 institutions worldwide.
Outside of work, Dr. Wood enjoys traveling with his family. He is an avid photographer, downhill and water skier, and likes to run and lift weights to keep fit. He has aspirations to become skilled in kite boarding, but has not quite mastered it yet.