Dr Hiran Fernando is a graduate from the Royal Free Hospital, University of London, UK.  After obtaining his fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Edinburgh, he then undertook additional training in the United States, completing residency training in cardiothoracic surgery at the University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.

He subsequently was in practice at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, then Boston University (where he served as Professor and Chair of Thoracic Surgery), and most recently at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, Virginia Commonwealth University (as Professor of Surgery and co-Director of Thoracic Oncology).  His clinical interests include lung cancer, esophageal cancer and benign esophageal diseases, and the application of minimally invasive approaches to these diseases.  He has published extensively in these areas serving as the principal or co-principal investigator for several multi-center clinical trials for lung and esophageal cancer.  Currently he is the co-PI for a multi-center, international study comparing sublobar resection to SBRT for high-risk operable patients with lung cancer.  He is a member of several societies including the STS American Surgical Association, AATS, ISMICS, ESTS and General Thoracic Club.  He has served on several committees and currently is a Director on the Board for ISMICS. He has been a co-author for several guidelines sponsored by the STS and ISMICS.