Nationally Recognized Lung and Esophageal Surgeon Rodney Landreneau, M.D., Joins Allegheny Health Network to Lead Division of General Thoracic Surgery

Rodney J. Landreneau, MD, a nationally recognized thoracic surgeon known for his expertise in the treatment of advanced diseases of the lung and esophagus, has returned to Pittsburgh to join the Allegheny Health Network. 

Dr. Landreneau, who most recently served as Medical Director of the Ochsner Health System Cancer Institute in New Orleans, brings to Allegheny Health Network a long and distinguished career of pioneering leadership and innovation in thoracic surgery, surgical oncology and clinical research.

He will serve as Division Director of General Thoracic Surgery for the Network, as well as System Director of Thoracic Oncology and Co-Director of its Esophageal and Lung Institute. His surgical practice will be based at Allegheny General Hospital and West Penn Hospital.

Prior to joining Ochsner, Dr. Landreneau spent more than two decades at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he directed the lung cancer program and performed the world’s first minimally invasive lung resection. He served as co-director of the cardiac transplantation program at the University of Missouri before coming to Pittsburgh in the early 1990s to lead the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Allegheny General Hospital.

“I’m very excited to join Allegheny Health Network’s patient-focused and physician-led healthcare team,” Dr. Landreneau said.  “I believe it is the ideal setting to pursue continued excellence and innovation in the surgical treatment of thoracic disease and look forward to working with the Network’s outstanding group of physicians and support staff to help further build the Esophageal and Lung Institute into one of the country’s foremost programs.”

Dr. Landreneau specializes in treating patients with lung and esophageal diseases, including gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), lung cancer, esophageal cancer and pleural mesothelioma, a rare and often-fatal cancer often diagnosed in people who have been exposed to high levels of asbestos. He is particularly noted for his expertise in the use of advanced, minimally invasive surgical techniques. 

He is also one of only a few doctors nationwide performing a breakthrough mesothelioma therapy known as hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemoperfusion (HIPEC). The procedure involves surgically removing all visible signs of cancer before heated chemotherapy drugs are introduced directly into the chest cavity.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Landreneau back to our organization,” said George J. Magovern, MD, Professor and Chairman of Allegheny Health Network’s Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. “He is among the world’s preeminent thoracic surgeons whose long history of innovation and outstanding clinical work has benefited countless patients with lung and esophageal disease.  Under the leadership of Drs. Landreneau and Blair Jobe, we are strongly positioned to be one of the country’s premiere referral centers in this highly specialized field.”

Dr. Jobe, widely recognized his groundbreaking research and advanced treatments for esophageal disease, joined Allegheny Health Network in 2013 as Director of its Esophageal and Lung Institute, a comprehensive, multidisciplinary clinical and research program. The Institute is on the forefront of cutting-edge diagnostic and treatment options for the complete spectrum of thoracic and esophageal diseases.

“Few thoracic surgeons in the world have helped revolutionize our field more over the past two decades than Rodney Landreneau.   He is a transformative, exceptionally dedicated clinician and medical pioneer whose new role at Allegheny Health Network significantly elevates our lung and esophageal disease program as a leading provider of advanced, patient-centered care,” Dr. Jobe said.  

 A graduate of Louisiana State University and its School of Medicine, Dr. Landreneau served his residency in general surgery at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas and his residency in thoracic surgery at the University of Michigan Medical Center.

Named numerous times to Pittsburgh Magazine’s list of the region’s Top Doctors, Dr. Landreneau holds specialty certifications from the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. He also is a member of the American Surgical Association, considered the world’s most exclusive and premiere surgical society, and has authored or co-authored more than 500 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles and book chapters.

A resident of Wexford, PA where he lives with his wife Sandy, 11 year-old daughter and twin 6 year-old sons, Dr. Landreneau is also the father of four older children, a son who works as an electrical engineer in Houston, a son who is a nuclear engineer in Connecticut and two sons in medical schools; and the grandfather of two. 

For more information or to make an appointment with Dr. Landreneau or Dr. Jobe, call 412-DOCTORS (362-8677), visit www.ahn.org/appointments or call the Esophageal and Thoracic Institute at 724.260.7300.