Nicolas Contreras
( out of 18 reviews )

Nicolas Contreras, MD

Languages spoken: English

Clinical Locations

Huntsman Cancer Institute - Cancer Hospital South

Salt Lake City
801-646-4111

  • Nicolas Contreras, MD, is a fellowship-trained cardiothoracic surgeon with a special interest in robotic thoracic surgery, thoracic oncology, esophageal surgery, complex esophageal reconstruction, and lung transplantation.

    Dr. Contreras' clinical specialties:

    • Thoracic Oncology

    • Robotic Thoracic Surgery

    • Benign and Malignant Diseases of the Esophagus

    • Lung Cancer

    • Mediastinal Tumors

    • Chest wall Reconstruction

    • Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

    • Lung Transplantation

    • Bioethics

    Dr. Contreras' research areas of interest:

    • Esophageal Cancer

    • Thoracic Oncology

    • Lung Transplantation

    • Bioethics

    Dr. Contreras graduated top of his class at Gonzaga University, majoring in Biochemistry, then received his MD at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He continued at the Mayo Clinic to complete his General Surgery Residency. During his education and residency, Dr. Contreras received multiple awards recognizing his excellence in clinical and surgical care, including awards as the top surgical intern of his class, best overall surgical resident, and Chief Resident Teacher of the Year. He completed his fellowship in Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Utah.

    From Bogota, Colombia, Dr. Contreras speaks English and Spanish. He enjoys playing soccer, snowboarding, traveling, and SCUBA diving in his free time. He has also dedicated part of his career to working with underserved communities in Central and South America.

    Specialties

    Board Certification

    American Board of Surgery
    National Board of Medical Examiners

    Patient Rating

    5.0 /5
    ( out of 18 reviews )

    The patient rating score is an average of all responses on our patient experience survey. The rating averages scores for all questions about care from our providers.

    The scale on which responses are measured is 1 to 5 with 5 being the best score.

    Patient Comments

    Patient comments are gathered from our patient experience survey and displayed in their entirety.
    Patients are de-identified for confidentiality and patient privacy.

    June 22, 2024
    HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

    He was very attentive and listened to all my questions as well as answered each one and reassured me about everything. Very caring. He also said he'd make sure that we would stay due to my particular situation until everything was taken care of properly.

    June 21, 2024
    HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

    Thank you for taking the time to explain everything. We left with the information we need to make a good decision.

    June 16, 2024
    HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

    I explained it earlier, Dr. Contreras, and all the staff I talked to were all very personable, down to earth and easy to talk to. They talked with and to me, not at me. Dr. Contreras, Sara, Np. and Talmage all seemed to.be the kind to say " Hi [NAME REMOVED]" if I ran into them on the street. That means more to me than anything else. They truly made me feel comfortable and as if they're really concerned for my well being and helping me to have a better quality of life!

    June 15, 2024
    HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

    I Really Like him, he explained everything so I understood exactly what was happening and what care we will proceed with! I really like him!!

    June 15, 2024
    HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

    Very kind, he has an amazing talent to treat his patients.. very human..

    May 25, 2024
    HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

    This is my first time seeing him, I¿m really impressed by him he is exceptional!

    May 11, 2024
    HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

    Dr. Contreras was great! He has a very good bedside manner, personable,& thorough. He explained what was going to take place with surgery & recovery! If I should have to have additional surgery in the future, my choice of surgeons is Dr. Contreras.

    April 12, 2024
    HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

    Dr. Contreras is a very empathetic, caring doctor. He does a great job explaining health concern, options, and procedures in a way I can understand. He takes his time, is listens to my thoughts about my health.

    April 12, 2024
    HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

    Dr Contreras is a great guy good doctor gives you all options explains in layman¿s terms very caring about you

    See More Patient Comments

  • Nicolas Contreras, MD, is a fellowship-trained cardiothoracic surgeon with a special interest in robotic thoracic surgery, thoracic oncology, esophageal surgery, complex esophageal reconstruction, and lung transplantation.

    Dr. Contreras' clinical specialties:

    • Thoracic Oncology

    • Robotic Thoracic Surgery

    • Benign and Malignant Diseases of the Esophagus

    • Lung Cancer

    • Mediastinal Tumors

    • Chest wall Reconstruction

    • Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

    • Lung Transplantation

    • Bioethics

    Dr. Contreras' research areas of interest:

    • Esophageal Cancer

    • Thoracic Oncology

    • Lung Transplantation

    • Bioethics

    Dr. Contreras graduated top of his class at Gonzaga University, majoring in Biochemistry, then received his MD at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He continued at the Mayo Clinic to complete his General Surgery Residency. During his education and residency, Dr. Contreras received multiple awards recognizing his excellence in clinical and surgical care, including awards as the top surgical intern of his class, best overall surgical resident, and Chief Resident Teacher of the Year. He completed his fellowship in Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Utah.

    From Bogota, Colombia, Dr. Contreras speaks English and Spanish. He enjoys playing soccer, snowboarding, traveling, and SCUBA diving in his free time. He has also dedicated part of his career to working with underserved communities in Central and South America.

    Board Certification and Academic Information

    Academic Departments Surgery -Primary
    Academic Divisions Cardiothoracic Surgery
    Board Certification
    American Board of Surgery
    National Board of Medical Examiners

    Education history

    Fellowship Cardiothoracic Surgery - University of Utah Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine Fellow
    General Surgery - Mayo Clinic College of Medicine & Science Chief Resident
    Residency General Surgery - Mayo Clinic College of Medicine & Science Resident
    Medicine - Mayo Medical School M.D.
    Undergraduate Biochemistry - Gonzaga University B.S.

    Selected Publications

    Journal Article

    1. Contreras N, Litle VR (2022). Pulmonary Segmentectomy: Does Virtual Reality Have Bite? Ann Thorac Surg, 115(5), 1255-1256. (Read full article)
    2. Contreras N, Litle VR (2022). Follow the Leader? Can Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Follow Non-small Cell Lung Cancer's Lead With Immunotherapy? Ann Thorac Surg, 114(5), e361. (Read full article)
    3. Contreras N, Litle VR (2022). Systemic Disease and the Impact on Esophageal Carcinoma Management: The Big Picture. Ann Thorac Surg. (Read full article)
    4. Contreras N, Litle VR (2022). Invited Commentary: COVID-19 and Cancer Casualty: Managing Esophageal Cancer. J Am Coll Surg, 235(2), 184-185. (Read full article)
    5. Liu S, Contreras N, Krezalek MA, Abd El Aziz MA, Merchea A, Kelley SR, Behm K (2022). Robotic transanal minimally invasive surgery: a single institutional experience. Updates Surg, 74(3), 1011-1016. (Read full article)
    6. Krezalek MA, Contreras-Peraza N, Parker ME, Kelley SR, Behm KT (2020). Hybrid Robotic Transanal Minimally Invasive Surgery Approach to Large and Low-Lying Rectal Polyps. Dis Colon Rectum, 63(7), 1001-1006. (Read full article)
    7. Contreras N, Jakub JW (2019). The achilles heel of minimally invasive inguinal lymph node dissection: Seroma formation. Am J Surg, 219(4), 696-700. (Read full article)
    8. Hernandez MC, Khasawneh M, Contreras-Peraza N, Lohse C, Stephens D, Kim BD, Zielinski MD (2019). Vaccination and splenectomy in Olmsted County. Surgery, 166(4), 556-563. (Read full article)
    9. Khasawneh MA, Contreras-Peraza N, Hernandez MC, Lohse C, Jenkins DH, Zielinski MD (2019). Outcomes after splenectomy in children: a 48-year population-based study. Pediatr Surg Int, 35(5), 575-582. (Read full article)
    10. Contreras N, Joyce DD, Van Handel AC, Farley DR (2015). Video voiceover feedback: economised surgical skills training. Med Educ, 49(11), 1146. (Read full article)