Shanda H. Blackmon, M.D., MPH, FACS is a minimally invasive thoracic surgeon. She completed Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency at Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, Texas.
Dr. Blackmon was awarded the Clinical Instructorship position in thoracic surgical oncology at MDACC, until she was recruited to build and lead the Division of Thoracic Surgery at Houston Methodist Hospital, where she was Chief of Thoracic Surgery, served as the Director of the Thoracic Tumor Board and Founder/Director of the Lung Cancer Screening Program.She has led in-person, social media-based and online esophageal support groups for 17 years.
She was then recruited to become Professor of Thoracic Surgery within the Department of Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She holds several patents including a novel esophageal anastomotic device. She was the founder/Director of the Mayo Clinic Esophageal Tumor Board, Lung Ablation Tumor Board and developed the UDD App, which is a virtual patient management platform for foregut surgery and post-esophageal reconstruction patients.
She developed a specialized team for complex esophageal reconstruction. She was the Thoracic Surgery Champion for 3D anatomic modeling for complex thoracic resections, ctDNA lab and care pathway algorithm development for AskMayoExpert. She served as the Medical Director of Mayo Clinic Consumer Digital Platform within the Center for Digital Health, and later became Medical Director for User Experience.
Her new position is the Executive Director of the Baylor College of Medicine Lung Institute and will be appointed to the Olga Keith Weiss Endowed Professor in Surgery for Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She is dual board-certified by ABS & ABTS.
Dr. Blackmon has published over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts, given over 300 oral presentations, is internationally recognized and has published more than 100 instructional videos. She is a former Deputy Editor for The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. She is the Past-President of Women in Thoracic Surgery, awardee of the Extraordinary Woman in Cardiothoracic Surgery, former Secretary/Treasurer of TSF, current Secretary/Treasurer of STSA, and served as a Council Chair for the Board of Directors for STS.
Dr. Blackmon led the development of Mayo Clinic’s first completely virtual longitudinal disease-specific digitally-guided integrated survivorship program, and is the author of “The Support Group,” by Mayo Clinic Press.
