About Maria Patricia Rivera
Dr. Rivera is a distinguished Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine. In April 2022, she was appointed as the C. Jane Davis & C. Robert Davis Distinguished Professor in Pulmonary Medicine and the Chief of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Division at URMC. She also holds the position of Associate Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Wilmot Cancer Institute. Dr. Rivera's medical expertise is centered around the screening, diagnosis, staging of lung cancer, and the management of treatment complications.
Originally from Cuba and having spent part of her childhood in Colombia, Dr. Rivera moved to the United States and grew up in New York. She graduated Summa cum laude with a BS in Biology from Pace University in 1981, and earned her M.D. from Stony Brook School of Medicine in 1985. Her postgraduate training included an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at North Shore University Hospital, followed by fellowships in Pulmonary Medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Critical Care Medicine at both Memorial Sloan-Kettering and North Shore University Hospital, completing her training in 1992. During this period, she also served as Chief Resident of the Internal Medicine Program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Dr. Rivera's career continued to flourish when she joined Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center as an Assistant Attending in the Department of Medicine/Pulmonary Division and as a Clinical Assistant Professor at Cornell University Medical College. In 1995, she joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. She was promoted to Assistant Professor of Medicine in 1998 and achieved tenure as a Professor of Medicine in 2012. At UNC, Dr. Rivera was instrumental in founding the first Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program (MTOP) in the country, a pioneering initiative that established a model for multidisciplinary care. She also founded the Multidisciplinary Lung Cancer Screening Program at UNC in 2015.
Throughout her career, Dr. Rivera has held numerous prestigious roles, including Director of Clinical Operations and Director of the Pulmonary Function and Bronchoscopy Laboratory at UNC. Her national leadership extends over two decades in significant roles within major Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Cancer societies, including the American Thoracic Society (ATS), The American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST), and the American Cancer Society National Lung Cancer Round Table. Dr. Rivera is the President-Elect of the ATS and is slated to serve as President from May 2023 to May 2024, reflecting her significant contributions to the field and her ongoing commitment to advancing pulmonary and oncological medicine.
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