Dr. Paula A. Figueroa

Dr. Paula Ugalde Figueroa graduated from the medical school of the Federal University of Bahia in Salvador, BA, Brazil. She did her general surgical residency at Santo Antônio Hospital-Irmã Dulce, a university-affiliated hospital also in Salvador, and her thoracic surgery residency at Santa Casa da Misericórdia Hospital in Porto Alegre RS, Brazil. Additionally, she did postdoctoral research at Santa Casa da Misericórdia Hospital and the Federal University of Bahia and obtained a master’s degree in Internal Medicine in 2004. She was an assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pneumology at the Federal University of Bahia Medical School from 2001 to 2005. From 2005 to 2007, Dr. Ugalde did a clinical fellowship in thoracic surgery at Centre de Pneumologie et de Chirurgie Thoracique Hôpital Laval in Quebec, Canada. In the 2007-2008 academic year, she studied at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center under Dr. James D. Luketich, completing a Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery Fellowship.In 2013, she was recruited back to Quebec and began her tenure as an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at Laval University. She was named director of the Thoracic Oncology research program of the Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec (IUCPQ) at Laval University in 2015 and was promoted to clinical professor in 2019.Dr. Ugalde established herself as a thoracic surgeon dedicated to research. She has an extensive record of publications including an impressive body of work on thoracic surgery using innovative uniportal VATS approaches for lung cancer. She has also participated in Canadian national clinical research groups. Dr. Ugalde oversaw the creation of the lung cancer database at Laval University, and under her guidance the university became the largest contributor in the world of cases to the prospective database maintained by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). She was awarded the Clifton F. Mountain Lectureship Award for Staging from the IASLC in 2019, and due to this effort, she was appointed Chair of the Database Committee of Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee of the IASLC in 2019. In 2019, Dr. Ugalde was accepted as a member of the American Association of Thoracic Surgery (AATS) and in 2021 as member of the STS. In 2021, she was also nominated Board Director of the IASLC.She has performed peer-review for the society’s journals as well as for other journals including the European Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery and given lectures at AATS symposia and worldwide. She has helped introduce minimally invasive thoracic surgery in Brazil and Latin America through courses and one-on-one mentoring, including teaching a Latin American fellow in Quebec each year who then returns to his or her home country. Additionally, Dr. Ugalde pursues this mission as co-chair of International Affairs for the Women in Thoracic Surgery society.

Dr. Figueroa is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Heart Tumor. Her top areas of expertise are Lung Cancer, Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), Pleuropulmonary Blastoma, Endoscopy, and Thymectomy.

Her clinical research consists of co-authoring 24 peer reviewed articles. MediFind looks at clinical research from the past 15 years. In particular, she has co-authored 1 article in the study of Heart Tumor.