Quick Facts
  • wavy circle icon with check mark inside
    Expertise:
    Lung-Sparing Surgery
    Clinical Trials
    Research
  • magnifying glass with heart icon
    Speciality:
    Thoracic Surgery
  • gender symbols interlocked icon
    Gender:
    Male
  • chat box with different language translations icon
    Language:
    English
  • pin location icon
    Primary Location:
    Temple Health Lung Center

Get to Know Dr. Joseph S. Friedberg

Dr. Joseph Friedberg joined the Temple University Health System in 2022 as the thoracic surgeon-in-chief and vice chair of surgical services for the Department of Thoracic Medicine. He is co-director of the Temple Health Mesothelioma and Pleural Disease Program.

Friedberg sees patients at both the Temple Health Lung Center and Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

He built his reputation as a groundbreaking world leader in the treatment of pleural mesothelioma with his earlier work at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center and the Penn Medicine Abramson Cancer Center.

In recent years, through his surgery skills and his research, Friedberg has played a leading role in moving mesothelioma closer to becoming a potentially treatable, chronic disease instead of a rare cancer with no known cure.

As a mesothelioma specialist, his expertise was instrumental in popularizing the lung-sparing pleurectomy and decortication surgery, which in recent years has mostly replaced the more aggressive extrapleural pneumonectomy surgery for mesothelioma.

Friedberg also was part of a research team in 2019 that identified previously underutilized lymph nodes that have altered the way pleural mesothelioma is diagnosed, staged and treated today.

Contact Dr. Joseph S. Friedberg

Specialties of Dr. Joseph S. Friedberg

  • Pleural mesothelioma
  • Advanced lung cancer
  • Chest wall tumors
  • Mediastinal tumors
  • Pleura disorders
  • Pleurectomy and decortication surgery
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Dr. Joseph S. Friedberg’s Experience and Medical Education

Awards and Certifications

  • American Board of Surgery
  • American Board of Thoracic Surgery
  • Castle Connolly’s America’s Top Doctors
  • Castle Connolly’s America’s Top Doctors for Cancer
  • Marquis Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare

Publications of Dr. Joseph S. Friedberg

  • Friedberg, J.S. (2022, February 18). Commentary: “Can We” Versus “Should We”: The Defining Dilemma of Mesothelioma Surgery. The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.
  • Friedberg, J.S. et al. (2019, August). A Proposed System Toward Standardizing Surgical-Based Treatments for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma, From the Joint National Cancer Institute-International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer-Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation Taskforce. Journal of Thoracic Oncology.
  • Friedberg, J.S. et al. (2017, March). Extended Pleurectomy-Decortication-Based Treatment for Advanced Stage Epithelial Mesothelioma Yielding a Median Survival of Nearly Three Years. Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
  • Friedberg, J.S. et al. (2012, May). Radical pleurectomy and intraoperative photodynamic therapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.