Ismael Matus, M.D., FCCP,  DAABIP is the
Director of Interventional Pulmonology at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center and Research Institute at Christiana Care in Newark, Delaware.

He joined Christiana Care from Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he served as assistant professor of interventional pulmonology with the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine.

He is board-certified in Interventional pulmonology by the American Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology and in Pulmonary Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

He earned his medical degree from Universidad Autónoma de Centro America, Costa Rica. He completed his internal medicine residency at the State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY, a recipient of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award. He completed his Pulmonary and Critical Care fellowship at the Georgetown University Medical Center; thereafter he received additional training in Interventional Pulmonology at the Thoraxklinik, University of Heidelberg, Germany.

Dr. Matus has special interests and expertise in advanced diagnostic and therapeutic rigid bronchoscopy, complex airway disease, medical thoracoscopy, transbronchial lung cryobiopsy, pleural diseases and lung cancer. He has presented his research internationally and has published the findings of his clinical research in peer-reviewed journals.

His clinical research interests have focus on both management and development of clinical pathways for malignant pleural effusions, promoting individualized ambulatory care of iatrogenic pneumothorax, leveraging thoracic ultrasonography as an alternative for chest Xray imaging after transbronchial lung cryobiopsies for interstitial lung diseases and examining older technologies for new applications such as utilizing cryobiopsies for evaluating
peripheral lung lesions.

Most of these efforts share a consistent theme: rethinking standardized care in favor of more personalized, streamlined approaches that improve quality of life and reduce unnecessary hospitalizations and healthcare costs.

Dr. Matus’s investigative philosophy is rooted in continuous improvement and a willingness to challenge routine clinical practices. This perspective led him to conduct an international survey examining current practices in rigid bronchoscopy and their supportive anesthesia approaches, identifying both significant variations and areas of consensus. Insights from this work directly influenced the design of the NuMatuSeal device, reflecting a careful alignment between innovation and real-world procedural challenges and clinical need.