About Dr. Marcelo DaSilva
Dr. DaSilva is the chief of Thoracic Surgery Services and medical director at the AdventHealth Cancer Institute in Orlando, Florida. He joined the AdventHealth Orlando team in 2019.
He is currently working on building a mesothelioma program, fully equipped with oncologists, pathologists, and other experienced medical professionals, to offer comprehensive and unrivaled mesothelioma treatment.
Dr. DaSilva has pioneered the application of heated chemotherapy for pleural mesothelioma, called intra-operative heated chemotherapy (IOHC), improving survival lengths for patients with this condition.
He has also developed a genetic testing system for patients with lung cancer, helping diagnose cancer subtypes with more accuracy and allowing medical professionals to develop better treatment plans based on the results.
Dr. DaSilva is fluent in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. In his spare time, he enjoys running and sailing.
Dr. DaSilva’s Location
AdventHealth Orlando, Fl
2501 N Orange Ave. Suite 283
Orlando, FL 32804
Ph (407) 342-4053
Fax (407) 303-2518
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdasilva/
Dr. DaSilva’s Career Highlights
- Mentored by renowned mesothelioma expert, the late Dr. David Sugarbaker, as well as respected Brazilian surgeon Dr. Augusto Paulino Soares de Souza Netto
- Developed a heated chemotherapy technique for pleural mesothelioma
- Experienced with both pleural mesothelioma and peritoneal mesothelioma
- Pioneered lung cancer genetic testing for clinical patients
Dr. DaSilva’s Background
Dr. DaSilva began his medical education at the Universidade Gama Filho in Brazil, where he earned his MD. He then became a member of New York Medical School’s educational consortium and completed a residency in surgery at Sound Shore Medical Center (then called New Rochelle Medical Center).
He doubled up this educational opportunity by pursuing basic science research at the nearby VA medical center and attending numerous surgical and clinical programs throughout New York.
Dr. DaSilva then attended Pennsylvania State University for a fellowship in Trauma and Surgical Critical Care and a residency in general surgery, before returning to Brazil in early 2000.
He joined the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro’s Master in Surgery program, and worked directly with Dr. Augusto Paulino Soares de Souza Netto, one of Brazil’s most famous surgeons.
After working and studying in Brazil for several years, Dr. DaSilva returned to the United States and completed a fellowship at Loyola University’s Stritch School of Medicine, which focused on cardiovascular and thoracic surgery.
With three board certifications to his name, Dr. DaSilva began to teach the next generation of surgeons. He was an assistant professor and surgeon at Penn State University College of Medicine’s Hershey Medical Center for nearly three years, before joining the staff at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston.
He worked at BWH from 2008 to 2013, and it was during this time that Dr. DaSilva learned from the late Dr. Sugarbaker and developed his heated chemotherapy treatment for pleural mesothelioma.
This ground-breaking innovation has significantly increased the length of life for many mesothelioma patients and it was this discovery that gave Dr. DaSilva international recognition.
Dr. DaSilva then advanced his career by becoming the chief of Thoracic Surgery at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, where he worked for a couple of years. However, he quickly returned to the BWH network through one of their affiliated hospitals, Care New England, maintaining his chief of Thoracic Surgery title.
He has since moved to Florida and currently works at AdventHealth Orlando.
Medical Specializations
Dr. DaSilva is a board-certified thoracic surgeon, with additional certifications in general surgery and critical surgical care. He is internationally respected for his work with mesothelioma but has numerous additional areas of thoracic specialty.
His additional areas of thoracic specialty include:
- Chest reconstruction
- Lung cancer
- Esophageal cancer
- Reflux
- Hernia repair
- Rib fractures
- Pleural effusions
His interests also include lung cancer screening and genetic testing, as well as robotic surgery, video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) and minimally invasive techniques.
Dr. DaSilva’s Career Accomplishments
Dr. DaSilva has worked closely with Dr. Sugarbaker at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and together they have made monumental contributions towards mesothelioma treatment.
He took Dr. Sugarbaker’s existing heated chemotherapy treatment for peritoneal mesothelioma and found a way to use it for patients with pleural mesothelioma. As a result, this innovative treatment can be used to help individuals with either form of mesothelioma.
Dr. DaSilva has also led an accomplished career beyond his work with mesothelioma, furthering the understanding and treatment of many thoracic conditions. He is currently the co-director of Chest Wall Disease and Reconstruction at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, reflecting his strength in healing chest injuries and disease.
Awards & Honors
- CMS Stage 1 HER
- Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education (TSFRE) Scholarship
- The Mark Young International Medical Studies Scholarship
- Annual New Era Cardiac Care Scholarship
- The Bristol-Myers Squibb Scholar of Surgery
- 1st Prize – International Trauma, Anesthesia, and Critical Care Society
Dr. DaSilva’s Current Work
Dr. DaSilva currently holds the following titles at AdventHealth Orlando: Chief of Thoracic Surgery Services and Medical Director of the AdventHealth Cancer Institute. He continues to help mesothelioma patients from across the nation, while also researching potential treatment improvements for a range of thoracic conditions.
Dr. DaSilva is also an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School.
In addition, Dr. DaSilva is a member of myriad associations including:
- International Mesothelioma Program
- Fellow – American College of Surgeons
- Massachusetts Medical Society
- Illinois Thoracic Surgery Society
- American Board of Surgery
- American Board of Thoracic Surgery
- Society of Thoracic Surgery
- International Society of Surgery
- International Association Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC)
- International Society of Heart & Lung Transplantation
- European Society of Thoracic Surgery
- Brazilian Society of Thoracic Surgery
Notable Work by Dr. DaSilva
In 2013, Dr. DaSilva published an article detailing his groundbreaking research in which heated chemotherapy was tested in patients with pleural mesothelioma for the first time.
The study compared 72 individuals who received heated chemotherapy to 21 patients who had similar pleural mesothelioma symptoms but did not receive the treatment.
His team’s research concluded that pleural mesothelioma patients who received heated chemotherapy had significantly longer periods of remission compared to those who hadn’t. The research ultimately concluded that heated chemotherapy is an excellent treatment option for people with low-risk epithelioid pleural mesothelioma.
