M. Patricia Rivera, MD, FCCP, is a professor of medicine in the division of pulmonary and critical care at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill (UNC).  She is currently the Chair of the ATS Thoracic Oncology Assembly and Vice-chair of the ACCP Thoracic Oncology Network.

Dr. Rivera is recognized as a pulmonologist with expertise in lung cancer and as a pioneer in the development of multidisciplinary lung cancer programs. She was instrumental in the development of the Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program (MTOP) at UNC, a program she has co-directed for 23 years. More recently, she developed and is the director of the Multidisciplinary Lung Cancer Screening Program at UNC.

Dr. Rivera is committed to improving the care of the lung cancer patient and is dedicated to promoting state of the art, evidence-based care. Her research interests have focused on early detection of pre-invasive bronchial lesions, toxicities caused by therapies in lung cancer, lung cancer in women and more recently, lung cancer screening. Dr. Rivera has been an active participant in the ACCP Lung Cancer Guidelines Initiative and had an integral part in the guidelines development and implementation. Her expertise in lung cancer, clinical expertise in diagnostic procedures and interest in early detection catapulted her interest in developing a multidisciplinary lung cancer screening program at UNC. Dr. Rivera has been part of the UNC lung cancer screening initiative in the development of a lung cancer screening registry and as a co-investigator in quality improvement of lung cancer screening implementation.

Dr. Rivera is committed to promoting multidisciplinary programs to enhance the overall care of lung cancer patients, including behavioral, psychological, and quality-of-life components of their care.