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Thomas K. Varghese Jr.
( out of 170 reviews )

Thomas K. Varghese Jr., MD, MS, MBA, FACS

Languages spoken: English, Malayalam

Clinical Locations

Primary Location

Huntsman Cancer Institute - Cancer Hospital South

Clinic 1A, Thoracic
1950 Circle of Hope
Salt Lake City , UT 84112

Dr. Thomas Varghese Jr. is the Associate Chief Medical Quality Officer and Chief Value Officer at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, and Chief - Section of General Thoracic Surgery at the University of Utah. He is also Professor (Tenure Track) in the Department of Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine.

Dr. Varghese's clinical interests are in Thoracic Surgical Oncology. A national leader in minimally invasive applications for general thoracic surgery, he is recognized by Castle Connolly as one of America’s “Top Docs”, and is ranked in the top 10% of the nation by Press Ganey for patient satisfaction scores. He was recruited to the University of Utah from the University of Washington in 2015, and has helped build a Thoracic Surgery Center of Excellence at the University of Utah/Huntsman Cancer Institute that actively participates in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Database, American College of Surgeons (ACS) Surgical Quality Improvement Program, and has received recognition as a national lung cancer surgery center of excellence by US News and World Report, and Vizient.

His research interests bridge the world of Educational Research and Health Services Research, specifically in the arena of optimizing performance at the patient, surgeon and system levels. He created the Strong for Surgery program while he was at the University of Washington, which is now a formal Quality Improvement program of the American College of Surgeons, and active at 331 clinical sites across the nation and 3 state surgical collaboratives ( https://www.facs.org/quality-programs/strong-for-surgery ). He has a track record of peer-reviewed publications and extramural funding, including current RO1 funding from the National Cancer Institute with Co-PIs Dr. Neli Ulrich (Dept. of Population Sciences) and Dr. Paul LaStayo (Dept. of Physical Therapy) for a pragmatic randomized clinical trial examining the effects of a unique Prescription Exercise Prescription (PEP) for lung cancer surgical patients utlizing an integrated Physical Therapy Clinic model (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30559162 )

Dr. Varghese holds national leadership positions in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Thoracic Surgery Directors Association, American College of Surgeons, and the Society of University Surgeons. He was elected to the inaugural class of the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators in 2018, and was the first Chair of the Thoracic Surgery Outcomes Research Network (ThORN), a collaborative that spans 29 institutions across the nation [http://thoracicoutcomes.org/]. Dr. Varghese is active on social media, blue check-marked on Twitter (@tomvarghesejr ) and is the Deputy Editor of Digital Media and Digital Scholarship for the Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

At the University of Utah, Dr. Varghese is a member of an active collaborative of Chief Value Officers, Education Leaders and Health Services Researchers that embraces the Triple Aim (outstanding patient-centered care, improving the health of the population we serve, reducing the cost of care) with the goal of maintaining the University of Utah at the highest level of patient care in the country.

Board Certification

American Board of Thoracic Surgery
American Board of Surgery

Patient Rating

4.9 /5
( out of 170 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. For the convenience of our visitors, some patient comments have been translated from their original language into English while preserving their original meaning as accurately as possible. Patients are de-identified for confidentiality and patient privacy.

2026-01-30
HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

Extremely compassionate and considerate of what you're going through, answers questions truthfully and listens to your concerns. Makes you feel lije your in good hands.

2026-01-14
HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

Excellent and caring doctor

2026-01-09
HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

Best doctor I have ever been too. Incredible doctor and human being!!!

2026-01-09
HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

Totally capable

2025-12-18
HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

Always informative and caring.

2025-12-07
HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

He is dedicated to his work. An honest person. Knowledgeable and humble man.

2025-11-26
HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

Dr. Varghese is very knowledgeable and professional but also explains things in a way that I can understand. He invites questions and takes the time to answer any questions I might have. I appreciate him and his great staff.

2025-11-21
HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

kind,friendly,direct great personality gives one confidence that all will be well

2025-11-07
HUNTSMAN CANCER CENTER

I trust Dr and crew

Dr. Thomas Varghese Jr. is the Associate Chief Medical Quality Officer and Chief Value Officer at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, and Chief - Section of General Thoracic Surgery at the University of Utah. He is also Professor (Tenure Track) in the Department of Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine.

Dr. Varghese's clinical interests are in Thoracic Surgical Oncology. A national leader in minimally invasive applications for general thoracic surgery, he is recognized by Castle Connolly as one of America’s “Top Docs”, and is ranked in the top 10% of the nation by Press Ganey for patient satisfaction scores. He was recruited to the University of Utah from the University of Washington in 2015, and has helped build a Thoracic Surgery Center of Excellence at the University of Utah/Huntsman Cancer Institute that actively participates in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Database, American College of Surgeons (ACS) Surgical Quality Improvement Program, and has received recognition as a national lung cancer surgery center of excellence by US News and World Report, and Vizient.

His research interests bridge the world of Educational Research and Health Services Research, specifically in the arena of optimizing performance at the patient, surgeon and system levels. He created the Strong for Surgery program while he was at the University of Washington, which is now a formal Quality Improvement program of the American College of Surgeons, and active at 331 clinical sites across the nation and 3 state surgical collaboratives ( https://www.facs.org/quality-programs/strong-for-surgery ). He has a track record of peer-reviewed publications and extramural funding, including current RO1 funding from the National Cancer Institute with Co-PIs Dr. Neli Ulrich (Dept. of Population Sciences) and Dr. Paul LaStayo (Dept. of Physical Therapy) for a pragmatic randomized clinical trial examining the effects of a unique Prescription Exercise Prescription (PEP) for lung cancer surgical patients utlizing an integrated Physical Therapy Clinic model (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30559162 )

Dr. Varghese holds national leadership positions in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Thoracic Surgery Directors Association, American College of Surgeons, and the Society of University Surgeons. He was elected to the inaugural class of the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators in 2018, and was the first Chair of the Thoracic Surgery Outcomes Research Network (ThORN), a collaborative that spans 29 institutions across the nation [http://thoracicoutcomes.org/]. Dr. Varghese is active on social media, blue check-marked on Twitter (@tomvarghesejr ) and is the Deputy Editor of Digital Media and Digital Scholarship for the Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

At the University of Utah, Dr. Varghese is a member of an active collaborative of Chief Value Officers, Education Leaders and Health Services Researchers that embraces the Triple Aim (outstanding patient-centered care, improving the health of the population we serve, reducing the cost of care) with the goal of maintaining the University of Utah at the highest level of patient care in the country.

Board Certification and Academic Information

Academic Departments Surgery -Professor
Academic Divisions Cardiothoracic Surgery
Board Certification
American Board of Thoracic Surgery
American Board of Surgery

Education history

Professional Medical Medicine - Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram/University of Kerala M.D.
Internship/Residency Rotating Resident Internship - Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram Intern/Resident
Residency General Surgery Residency - Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Resident
Graduate Training Clinical Investigation - Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine M.S.
Research Fellow Organ Transplantation - Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Research Fellow
Residency General Surgery - Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Resident
Chief Resident General Surgery - Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chief Resident
Fellowship Cardiothoracic Surgery - University of Michigan Fellow
Chief Resident Cardiothoracic Surgery - University of Michigan Administrative Chief Resident
Graduate Training Business - University of Utah Executive M.B.A.

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Pannucci CJ, Fleming KI, Varghese TK Jr, Stringham J, Huang LC, Pickron TB, Prazak AM, Bertolaccini C, Momeni (2020). Low anti-Factor Xa level predicts 90-day Symptomatic Venous Thromboembolism in Surgical Patients Receiving Enoxaparin Prophylaxis: A Pooled Analysis of Eight Clinical Trials. Annals of surgery, 276(6), e682-e690.
  2. Stokes SM, Scaife CL, Brooke BS, Glasgow RE, Mulvihill SJ, Finlayson SRG, Varghese TK J (2020). Hospital Costs Following Surgical Complications: A Value-driven Outcomes Analysis of Cost Savings Due to Complication Prevention. Annals of surgery, 275, e375-e381.
  3. Daodu O, Panda N, Lopushinsky S, Varghese TK Jr, Brindle (2020). COVID-19 - Considerations and Implications for Surgical Learners. Annals of surgery, 272(1), e22-e23.
  4. Pannucci CJ, Fleming KI, Bertolaccini C, Moulton L, Stringham J, Barnett S, Lin J, Varghese TK J (2020). Fixed or Weight-Tiered Enoxaparin After Thoracic Surgery for Venous Thromboembolism Prevention. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 109(6), 1713-1721.
  5. Luc JGY, Archer MA, Arora RC, Bender EM, Blitz A, Cooke DT, Hlci TN, Kidane B, Ouzounian M, Varghese TK Jr, Antonoff M (2020). Social Media Improves Cardiothoracic Surgery Literature Dissemination: Results of a Randomized Trial. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 109(2), 589-595.
  6. Luc JGY, Ouzounian M, Bender EM, Blitz A, Stamp NL, Varghese TK Jr, Cooke DT, Antonoff M (2019). The Thoracic Surgery Social Media Network: Early Experience and Lessons Learned. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 108(4), 1248-1255.
  7. Stokes SM, Massarweh NN, Stringham JR, Varghese TK J (2019). Clinical-Pathologic Correlation and Guideline Concordance in Resectable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 108(3), 837-844.
  8. Handy JR, Bremner RM, Crocenzi TS, Detterbeck FC, Fernando HC, Fidias PM, Firestone S, Johnstone CA, Lanuti M, Litle VR, Kesler KA, Mitchell JD, Pass HI, Ross HJ, Varghese T (2019). Expert Consensus Document on Pulmonary Metastasectomy. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 107(2), 631-649.
  9. Antonoff MB, Mitzman B, Backhus L, Bradbury ST, Chatterjee S, Cooke DT, Crestanello J, Goldstone AB, Kim KM, Nguyen TC, Romano JC, Vaporciyan AA, Varghese TK J (2021). The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Virtual Conference Taskforce: Recommendations for Hosting a Virtual Surgical Meeting. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 111(1), 16-23.
  10. Luc JGY, Archer MA, Arora RC, Bender EM, Blitz A, Cooke DT, Hlci TN, Kidane B, Ouzounian M, Varghese TK Jr, Antonoff M (2021). Does Tweeting Improve Citations? One-Year Results From the TSSMN Prospective Randomized Trial. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 111(1), 296-300.
  11. Stokes SM, Massarweh NN, Stringham JR, Varghese TK J (2020). Impact of Multimodality Treatment Sequence on Survival in Stage IIB Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. The Annals of thoracic surgery,
  12. Thoracic Surgery Outcomes Research Network, Inc., Antonoff M, Backhus L, Boffa DJ, Broderick SR, Brown LM, Carrott P, Clark JM, Cooke D, David E, Facktor M, Farjah F, Grogan E, Isbell J, Jones DR, Kidane B, Kim AW, Keshavjee S, Krantz S, Lui N, Martin L, Meguid RA, Meyerson SL, Mullett T, Nelson H, Odell DD, Phillips JD, Puri V, Rusch V, Shulman L, Varghese TK, Wakeam E, Wood D (2020). COVID-19 Guidance for Triage of Operations for Thoracic Malignancies: A Consensus Statement From Thoracic Surgery Outcomes Research Network. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 110(2), 692-696.
  13. Varghese TK Jr, Hofstetter WL, Rizk NP, Low DE, Darling GE, Watson TJ, Mitchell JD, Krasna M (2013). The society of thoracic surgeons guidelines on the diagnosis and staging of patients with esophageal cancer. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 96(1), 346-56.
  14. Himbert C, Klossner N, Coletta AM, Barnes CA, Wiskemann J, LaStayo PC, Varghese TK Jr, Ulrich C (2020). Exercise and lung cancer surgery: A systematic review of randomized-controlled trials. Critical reviews in oncology/hematology, 156, 103086.
  15. Stokes SM, Kim RY, Jacobs A, Esplin J, Kwok AC, Varghese TK Jr, Glasgow RE, Brooke BS, Finlayson SRG, Huang L (2020). Home Disposal Kits for Leftover Opioid Medications After Surgery: Do They Work?. The Journal of surgical research, 245, 396-402.
  16. Luc JGY, Ouzounian M, Bender EM, Blitz A, Stamp NL, Varghese TK Jr, Cooke DT, Antonoff M (2019). The Thoracic Surgery Social Media Network: Early experience and lessons learned. The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, 158(4), 1127-1136.
  17. Wakeam E, Adibfar A, Stokes S, Leighl NB, Giuliani ME, Varghese TK Jr, Darling G (2020). Defining the role of adjuvant therapy for early-stage large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma. The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, 159(5), 2043-2054.e9.
  18. Glotzbach JP, Sharma V, Tonna JE, Pettit JC, McKellar SH, Eckhauser AW, Varghese TK Jr, Selzman C (2018). Value-driven cardiac surgery: Achieving "perfect care" after coronary artery bypass grafting. The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, 156(4), 1436-1448.e2.
  19. Thoracic Surgery Outcomes Research Network, Inc., Antonoff M, Backhus L, Boffa DJ, Broderick SR, Brown LM, Carrott P, Clark JM, Cooke D, David E, Facktor M, Farjah F, Grogan E, Isbell J, Jones DR, Kidane B, Kim AW, Keshavjee S, Krantz S, Lui N, Martin L, Meguid RA, Meyerson SL, Mullett T, Nelson H, Odell DD, Phillips JD, Puri V, Rusch V, Shulman L, Varghese TK, Wakeam E, Wood D (2020). COVID-19 guidance for triage of operations for thoracic malignancies: A consensus statement from Thoracic Surgery Outcomes Research Network. The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, 160(2), 601-605.
  20. Farjah F, Backhus L, Cheng A, Englum B, Kim S, Saha-Chaudhuri P, Wood DE, Mulligan MS, Varghese T (2015). Failure to rescue and pulmonary resection for lung cancer. The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, 149(5), 1365-71; discussion 1371-3.e3.
  21. Barnes CA, Stout NL, Varghese TK Jr, Ulrich CM, Couriel DR, Lee CJ, Noren CS, LaStayo P (2020). Clinically Integrated Physical Therapist Practice in Cancer Care: A New Comprehensive Approach. Physical therapy, 100(3), 543-553.
  22. Stokes SM, Wakeam E, Swords DS, Stringham JR, Varghese TK J (2018). Impact of insurance status on receipt of definitive surgical therapy and posttreatment outcomes in early stage lung cancer. Surgery, 164(6), 1287-1293.
  23. Hu QL, Dworsky JQ, Beck AC, Gilbert EW, Pockaj BA, Varghese TK Jr, Maggard-Gibbons M, Ko CY, Weigel RJ, Laronga (2020). Perioperative Pain Management after Ambulatory Abdominal Surgery: An American College of Surgeons Systematic Review. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 231(5), 572-601.e27.
  24. Cook GW, Benton MG, Akerley W, Mayhew GF, Moehlenkamp C, Raterman D, Burgess DL, Rowell WJ, Lambert C, Eng K, Gu J, Baybayan P, Fussell JT, Herbold HD, O'Shea JM, Varghese TK, Emerson L (2020). Structural variation and its potential impact on genome instability: Novel discoveries in the EGFR landscape by long-read sequencing. PloS one, 15(1), e0226340.
  25. DeBoard ZM, Varghese TK Jr, Doty JR, Selzman C (2019). Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency Training in Surgical Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation. Journal of atrial fibrillation, 12(1), 2195.
  26. Morris BB, Wages NA, Grant PA, Stukenberg PT, Gentzler RD, Hall RD, Akerley WL, Varghese TK, Arnold SM, Williams TM, Coppola V, Jones DR, Auble DT, Mayo M (2021). MYBL2-Driven Transcriptional Programs Link Replication Stress and Error-prone DNA Repair With Genomic Instability in Lung Adenocarcinoma. Frontiers in oncology, 10, 585551.
  27. Ulrich CM, Himbert C, Boucher K, Wetter DW, Hess R, Kim J, Lundberg K, Ligibel JA, Barnes CA, Rushton B, Marcus R, Finlayson SRG, LaStayo PC, Varghese T (2018). Precision-Exercise-Prescription in patients with lung cancer undergoing surgery: rationale and design of the PEP study trial. BMJ open, 8(12), e024672.
  28. Stokes SM, Wakeam E, Antonoff MB, Backhus LM, Meguid RA, Odell D, Varghese TK J (2019). Optimizing health before elective thoracic surgery: systematic review of modifiable risk factors and opportunities for health services research. Journal of thoracic disease, 11(Suppl 4), S537-S554.
  29. Farjah F, Backhus LM, Varghese TK, Manning JP, Cheng AM, Mulligan MS, Wood D (2015). External validation of a prediction model for pathologic N2 among patients with a negative mediastinum by positron emission tomography. Journal of thoracic disease, 7(4), 576-84.
  30. Varghese TK Jr, Ghaferi A (2017). Cutting-edge Efforts in Surgical Patient Safety. JAMA surgery, 152(8), 719-720.

Editorial

  1. Varghese TK Jr, Entwistle JW 3rd, Mayer JE, Moffatt-Bruce SD, Sade RM, Cardiothoracic Ethics Forum (2019). Ethical Standards for Cardiothoracic Surgeons' Participation in Social Media. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 108(3), 666-670.
  2. Luc JGY, Archer MA, Arora RC, Bender EM, Blitz A, Cooke DT, Elde S, Guy TS, Halpern AL, Harrington C, Hlci TN, Kidane B, Olive JK, Ouzounian M, Stamp N, Vervoort D, Varghese TK Jr, Antonoff M (2020). The Thoracic Surgery Social Media Network Experience During the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 110(4), 1103-1107.
  3. Varghese TK Jr, Entwistle JW 3rd, Mayer JE, Moffatt-Bruce SD, Sade RM, Cardiothoracic Ethics Forum (2019). Ethical standards for cardiothoracic surgeons' participation in social media. The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, 158(4), 1139-1143.

Letter

  1. Luc JGY, Varghese TK Jr, Antonoff M (2021). We Stand by Our Data: A Call for Professional Scholarly Discourse. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 111(3), 1095-1097.