David Tom Cooke, M.D., FACS

Dr. David Tom Cooke is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine.  He is the Chief of the Division of General Thoracic Surgery, Director of the General Thoracic Surgery Robotics Program, and the Vice Chair for Faculty Development and Wellness for the Department of Surgery.  Dr. Cooke specializes in the surgical treatment of malignant and benign lung and esophageal disease and is a national leader in robotic thoracic surgery.  Dr. Cooke's research includes oncologic trials, surgical outcomes/health services research, patient-centered outcomes research, surgical education, medical social media and public medical communication.  He has authored over 100 scholarly works and co-authored a book.  Dr. Cooke is recognized by Castle and Connolly and Sacramento Magazine as one of America's Top Doctors.

Dr. Cooke currently serves on the American Lung Association National Lung Cancer Expert Medical Advisory Panel.  He is the co-founder of LCSMChat, the bi-monthly lung cancer, patient-centered social media Twitter chat and patient engagement network.  Since its inception in 2013, the #LCSM community has had over 50,000 participants, 600,000 tweets and 2 billion impressions.  Dr. Cooke completed his cardiothoracic surgery training at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, general surgery residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital, medical school at Harvard Medical School and undergraduate at UC Berkeley.