Dr. Rice’s research efforts have centered mainly on clinical research. He is the surgical principal investigator (PI) on the Vanguard study, which prospectively examines the use of novel targeted biological agents to prevent cancer recurrence in patients who have undergone surgery for lung cancer. Dr. Rice is also the surgical PI on a prospective randomized trial to evaluate the hemostatic effects of aprotinin during extrapleural pneumonectomy. He is the institutional PI for an American College of Surgeons Oncology Group clinical protocol (Z0040) and the institutional surgical PI on two other multi-center trials. One of these investigates the significance in circulating tumor cells in patients undergoing lung cancer surgery, and the other is a prospective trial of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, extrapleural pneumonectomy, and adjuvant radiation therapy in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.