Dr. Russel R. Kahmke

I have the privilege of treating patients with both benign and malignant conditions of the chest. While in college at Georgia Tech, I envisioned a career as a biomedical engineer. What I quickly learned, however, was that I was more interested in patients and their medical problems than developing the technology to care for them. During my medical education and training, I learned not only how to become a surgeon, but also learned the value of teamwork and family in caring for patients. As a thoracic surgeon, one of the best and most important aspects of my job is being able to establish a relationship with my patients and their families, working together to help them through their illness. Dr. Tong is highly rated in 12 conditions, according to our data. Her top areas of expertise are Lung Cancer, Lung Nodules, Pleuropulmonary Blastoma, Vagotomy, and Advanced Bronchoscopy.

As an orthopaedic oncologist, I am passionate about providing the best diagnostic and therapeutic surgical care for patients with benign or malignant bone or soft tissue tumors of the musculoskeletal system. As the director of the Sarcoma program at the Duke Cancer Institute, my passion is building our team to provide the best clinical care and basic scientific, translational and clinical research to serve our patients. Dr. Brigman is highly rated in 29 conditions, according to our data. His top areas of expertise are Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Bone Tumor, Chondrosarcoma, Bone Graft, and Hip Replacement.

Every day, my goal is to take the best surgical care of my patients' kidney or prostate cancer by offering the most up-to-date minimally invasive surgical treatments, while making sure that their experiences and outcomes at Duke Health are top-notch! As we look at the scans together and discuss biopsy results, it is important to me that I spend all of the time that my patients and their families need to clearly understand their diagnosis as well as all treatment options, so that we can make joint decisions about next steps and their treatment plan. Many of my patients are referred from all over the country to seek highly specialized urology care, including nonsurgical focal cryotherapy for prostate cancer, robotic surgery for prostate cancer, or robotic surgical removal of their kidney tumor called a partial nephrectomy, among other treatments, with our multidisciplinary, collaborative team. I always reassure and share my positive outlook with my patients as we navigate the health system together. My patients know that, as their physician, I will be their champion and advise them and guide them through their treatment. We are in this together. Dr. Polascik is highly rated in 21 conditions, according to our data. His top areas of expertise are Prostate Cancer, Familial Prostate Cancer, Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC), Prostatectomy, and Nephrectomy.