Dr. Hassan Khalil
Thoracic Surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital
Dr. Hassan Khalil is a thoracic surgeon who specializes in pleural mesothelioma. He joined Brigham and Women’s Hospital as an associate thoracic surgeon in 2020. He is part of one of the top mesothelioma treatment programs in the world, and he's a faculty member of Harvard Medical School.
Pleural Mesothelioma
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
75 Francis St., Boston, MA 02115
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More About Mesothelioma Specialist Dr. Hassan Khalil
Dr. Khalil is one of the top mesothelioma doctors in the world. He provides treatment of mesothelioma cancer, which is a rare type of cancer forming in the lining of the lungs or abdominal cavity.
Dr. Khali is a member of the thoracic surgery team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He is also part of the Dana‑Farber Cancer Institute surgery team and specializes in treating pleural mesothelioma. This type of mesothelioma forms in the lining of the lungs.
After working in biomedical engineering, Dr. Khalil received a medical degree from the University of Texas. He uses new surgery techniques, including robotics. He uses his biomedical engineering experience to improve lung surgery techniques and limit the duration of air leaks after surgery.
He calls mesothelioma a “terrible disease” with poor survival rates without many treatment options. His focus is helping people with this cancer improve their life expectancy and quality of life.
“I believe any incremental improvement in therapy adds a lot to the patient’s lifespan and quality of life,” Dr. Khalil says.
His training includes tutelage from three esteemed pleural mesothelioma surgeons: Dr. Abraham “Avi” Lebenthal, Dr. Marcelo DaSilva and Dr. Raphael Bueno. Drs. Lebenthal and Dasilva no longer work at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Khalil remains colleagues with Dr. Bueno.
In addition to his medical training and residencies, Dr. Khalil completed three fellowships:
- Research in general surgery at the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 2014
- Minimally invasive thoracic and foregut surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 2018
- Cardiothoracic surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 2020
- Bachelor’s degree from University of Houston, Biomedical Engineering, 2006
- Medical degree from the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, 2010
- Residency at the University of California‑Los Angeles, General Surgery, 2017
- Certification in Thoracic Surgery from the American Board of Thoracic Surgery
- Certification in General Surgery from the American Board of Surgery
- Membership in the American Medical Association, Longmire Surgical Society, Massachusetts Medical Society, Society of Thoracic Surgeons, American College of Surgeons and American Heart Association
Get Connected to Dr. Hassan Khalil
Dr. Khalil is one of the top mesothelioma surgeons at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He offers experience performing surgeries and compassion for his patients. Dr. Khalil learned from some of the best specialists for mesothelioma. He’s part of one of the top surgical teams in the world at Brigham and Women’s.
*Disclaimer: Dr. Hassan Khalil is a medical reviewer for Mesothelioma Guide’s website. This work is not affiliated with or a representation of Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Why Choose Dr. Khalil?
- Performs both P/D and EPP surgeries for pleural mesothelioma
- Vast resources working at Brigham and Women’s Hospital
- Open to treating biphasic and sarcomatoid cases
Multimodal Approach to Mesothelioma Treatment
Dr. Khalil believes all mesothelioma treatment options play a role in helping patients. However, they must be chosen on a case‑by‑case basis.
Mesothelioma treatment options include:
- Aggressive surgeries
- Systemic chemotherapy
- Intraoperative chemotherapy
- Radiation
- Immunotherapy
Even the two surgeries for pleural mesothelioma require an individualized approach. Dr. Khalil says extrapleural pneumonectomy is the “easier” surgery of the two, but he prefers performing pleurectomy with decortication if it’s safe for the patient. Extrapleural pneumonectomy removes the affected lung. Pleurectomy with decortication leaves it in the body and attempts to remove the tumors by peeling the patient’s pleura off of the lung.
“With P/D, you have to peel the visceral pleura off the lung. It can cause complications like bleeding and prolonged air leaks,” Dr. Khalil says. “EPP is a quicker operation. Outcomes like survival and recurrence are equivalent between the two operations. My preference is to leave the lung behind and not do an EPP when technically possible.”
While surgery is a tentpole of treatment, he believes in neoadjuvant therapy to downstage patients from advanced disease.
“I think down-staging patients with neoadjuvant therapy is important when there is locally advanced diseas,” Dr. Khalil says. “Surgery itself can be a diagnostic procedure in some patients. In a subset of patients who are otherwise healthy and can tolerate surgery, if there is a good response to neoadjuvant therapy, I advocate for them to get surgery.”
Dr. Khalil stresses the importance of patients having as many options as possible, regardless whether or not they have surgery. These therapies include:
- Chemotherapy
- Radiation
- Intraoperative chemotherapy
- Immunotherapy
“For a patient whose gross disease is removed (during surgery) and who has adequate kidney function, intraoperative chemotherapy is one of the tools I use,” he said, later adding that not everyone responds to immunotherapy.
“I think it’s wonderful we have this new instrument that works with these other therapies, particularly in sarcomatoid and biphasic mesothelioma cases.”
Interest in Developing New Approaches to Treatment
Dr. Khalil works to develop new surgical approaches to mesothelioma. Epithelioid mesothelioma cell type is traditionally believed to be a better fit for aggressive surgery like P/D or EPP, but in the appropriate setting, Dr. Khalil considers surgery in patients with sarcomatoid and biphasic mesothelioma as well.
“I do believe in the prognostic benefits of knowing what kind of tumor we’re dealing with. However, I don’t believe in outright saying whether someone can have surgery based on a classification,” he says.
Another option is using robotics. He’s a certified console surgeon with robotics and hopes to expand the use of this tactic within the Brigham and Women’s Hospital thoracic surgery department.
Additionally, he has a research laboratory to study the mesothelium, which is the cell linings that can form mesothelioma. They are made of mesothelial cells. This research may help Dr. Khalil introduce new drug delivery methods and understand how epithelial cells become sarcomatoid cells.
How to See Dr. Khalil at Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Dr. Khalil sees both veterans with mesothelioma and civilians with this cancer. He previously ran the mesothelioma treatment program at the Boston VA Medical Center.
“As part of my advanced thoracic training, I trained at the Boston VA,” Dr. Khalil says. “I’ve already met a lot of mesothelioma patients in the pipeline. I think that’s also a big plus because I bring expertise from Brigham and Women’s Hospital.”
If you wish to speak with Dr. Khalil, Mesothelioma Guide’s staff can help set up a cancer specialist appointment. Our patient advocates can put you in touch with his team at the Brigham and Women’s Dana‑Farber Cancer Institute.
Fill out the form for our free Doctor Match program and mention that you’d like to learn more about Dr. Khalil as a mesothelioma specialist for your diagnosis.
Sources & Author
- Welcoming New Faculty – Hassan Khalil, MD. Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Retrieved from: https://www.brighamsurgerynews.com/welcoming-new-faculty-hassan-khalil-md/. Accessed: 06/29/2021.
- Hassan A Khalil, MD. Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Retrieved from: https://physiciandirectory.brighamandwomens.org/details/14537/hassan-khalil-thoracic_surgery-boston. Accessed: 06/29/2021.
