Dr. Kiran Turaga

More About Mesothelioma Specialist Dr. Kiran Turaga

Dr. Turaga is a lead cytoreduction surgeon and HIPEC specialist at the Yale School of Medicine and Smilow Cancer Hospital, which jointly forms the Yale Cancer Center. Dr. Turaga is the Division Chief of Surgical Oncology and the Assistant Medical Director for the Clinical Trials Office. He is a peritoneal mesothelioma specialist at the New Haven, Connecticut cancer center.

Dr. Turaga joined the hospital in 2023 after previously working at the University of Chicago Medicine as a peritoneal mesothelioma specialist. He saw patients out of the affiliated cancer center in the metropolis.

Dr. Turaga’s titles at University of Chicago Medicine included:

• Vice Chief for the Section of General Surgery and Surgical Oncology
• Director of the Surgical Gastrointestinal Cancer Program
• Director of the Regional Therapeutics Program

He was also a professor of surgery at University of Chicago and taught at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida.

Dr. Turaga is one of many peritoneal mesothelioma surgeons to receive training at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. This hospital is considered the first high-volume center for peritoneal mesothelioma. Many current mesothelioma surgeons completed fellowships at UPMC.

Medical Degrees and Residencies

• Medical Degree from All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, 2001
• Master’s Degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, 2003
• Residency at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska
• Fellowship at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida
• Fellowship at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

Certifications and Memberships

• Received the Department of Surgery Excellence in Teaching award, 2017

Get Connected to Dr. Kiran Turaga

Dr. Kiran Turaga is a HIPEC expert at Yale School of Medicine. He trained at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and completed two fellowships, one at Moffitt Cancer Center. He’s a trusted surgeon for peritoneal mesothelioma.

Why Choose Dr. Turaga?

• Director of gastrointestinal cancer surgery at a top cancer hospital
• Clinical interest in helping patients live past usual prognosis
• Co-authored medical articles on peritoneal mesothelioma

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Expertise With HIPEC for Mesothelioma

Dr. Turaga’s clinical interest includes perfecting HIPEC and surgery for peritoneal surface malignancies. This therapy is widely viewed as the best option to improve life expectancy for cases of peritoneal mesothelioma.

HIPEC is a regional treatment delivering high doses of heated chemotherapy to the abdominal cavity. The therapy, officially called “hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy”, kills cancer cells that persist in the abdomen after surgical removal of the:

• Omentum
• Peritoneum
• Affected organs and tissue

Participation in Important Research

Dr. Turaga’s research is featured in more than 100 peer-reviewed medical articles. Just in the last few years, he has collaborated with fellow mesothelioma specialists on multiple articles about this rare asbestos cancer.

In 2021, he worked with University of Chicago Medicine colleague Dr. Hedy Lee Kindler on learning how much PD-L1 protein expression occurs in malignant peritoneal mesothelioma. He found the expression was higher in cases with specific cell mutation and lower in cases with prior chemotherapy.

In 2014, he reviewed survival after cytoreduction and HIPEC surgery. More than half of patients achieved three-year survival, and around 40% reached five years.

Dr. Turaga found the survival improved slightly when patients received early postoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy (EPIC) through the ports used during HIPEC. This therapy sends cancer-killing drugs back into the abdominal cavity a few weeks after surgery to continue bathing the area with chemotherapy drugs that are  harmful to lingering cancer cells.

Immunotherapy Drugs for Peritoneal Mesothelioma

Dr. Turaga led a new study at the University of Chicago Medicine investigating two immune checkpoint inhibitors for peritoneal mesothelioma. The therapies, Opdivo and Yervoy, are approved by the FDA for unresectable pleural mesothelioma.

Dr. Turaga’s study uses Opdivo and Yervoy (brand names for nivolumab and ipilimumab, respectively) prior to surgery. The objective is to assess tumor response to the immunotherapy treatment and how many patients advance to surgery without delays.

How to Connect With Dr. Turaga

Dr. Turaga sees new patients through the Yale School of Medicine system and the Yale Cancer Center. He accepts cases of peritoneal mesothelioma from throughout the country. Despite the rarity of this disease, Dr. Turaga and his colleagues have a high case volume every year.

We can put you in touch with Dr. Turaga and the gastrointestinal surgery team at Yale. Contact a patient advocate through the Mesothelioma Guide website or email Karen Ritter, our registered nurse, at karen@mesotheliomaguide.com.

Sources & Author

1. Kiran Turaga, MD, MPH. Yale School of Medicine. Retrieved from: https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/kiran-turaga/. Accessed: 03/08/2023.
2. Kiran Turaga, MD, MPH. U Chicago Medicine. Retrieved from: https://bucksbauminstitute.uchicago.edu/bio/kiran-turaga/. Accessed: 11/22/2021.
3. Kiran Turaga, MD, MPH. U Chicago Medicine. Retrieved from: https://bucksbauminstitute.uchicago.edu/bio/kiran-turaga-md-mph/. Accessed: 03/08/2023
4. Yale Cancer Center. Yale School of Medicine. Retrieved from: https://www.yalecancercenter.org/. Accessed: 03/08/2023.
5. Kiran Turaga. University of Chicago. Retrieved from: https://profiles.uchicago.edu/profiles/display/8615164. Accessed: 11/22/2021.
6. Cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy for malignant peritoneal mesothelioma: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Annals of Surgical Oncology. Retrieved from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25124472/. Accessed: 11/23/2021.
7. Heterogeneity in PD-L1 expression in malignant peritoneal mesothelioma with systemic or intraperitoneal chemotherapy. British Journal of Cancer. Retrieved from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33100328/. Accessed: 11/23/2021.
8. A Study of Immunotherapy Drugs Nivolumab and Ipilimumab in Patients w/Resectable Malignant Peritoneal Mesothelioma. Clinicaltrials.gov. Retrieved from: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05041062. Accessed: 12/01/2021.

About the Writer, Devin Golden

Devin Golden is a content writer for Mesothelioma Guide. He produces mesothelioma-related content on various mediums, including the Mesothelioma Guide website and social media channels. Devin's objective is to translate complex information regarding mesothelioma into informative, easily absorbable content to help patients and their loved ones.