John C. Kucharczuk, M.D., FACS
Carole and Stuart Potter Associate Professor in BRCA Clinical Care
Active Surgeon, Presbyterian Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, University of Pennsylvania
Active Surgeon, Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, PA
Attending Surgeon, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Member of Resident Work Hours Task Force, Department of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA
Faculty Annual Giving Appeal Committee, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
Chairman, Thoracic Oncology Service Line, Penn Medicine - University of Pennsylvania Health System
Department: Surgery
Contact information
Division of Thoracic Surgery
Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
14th Floor South, PCAM
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
14th Floor South, PCAM
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: 2156624988
Fax: 2156156562
Fax: 2156156562
Education:
BCE (Chemical Engineering)
Villanova University, Villanova, PA, 1987.
Georgetown University, College of Arts and Science, Washington, DC , 1988.
MD
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 1992.
Permanent linkBCE (Chemical Engineering)
Villanova University, Villanova, PA, 1987.
Georgetown University, College of Arts and Science, Washington, DC , 1988.
MD
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 1992.
Description of Research Expertise
Adjuvant Treatment for Lung cancer-clinical trialsTrimodality Treatment for Esophgeal cancer-clinical trials
Quality Outcome Measures in Thoracic Surgery
Benchmarking Outcomes in Thoracic Surgery
Thoracic Surgery Education
Description of Clinical Expertise
Surgery for Lung CancerSurgery For Esophgeal Cancer
Surgery of Mediasinal Disease
Surgery for Pleural Disease and Mesothelioma
Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery
Repair and Management of Esophageal Perforations
Complex Sugical resections for locally advanced lung and esophgeal cancer
Description of Other Expertise
Dr. Kucharczuk completed medical School, a general Surgery Residency and thoracic Surgery Training all at the University of Pennsylvania. His clinical and research interests focus on general thoracic surgery. He has expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of benign and malignant diseases of the chest including lung cancer, esophageal cancer, mesothelioma, and mediastinal tumors. He performs a high volume of traditional and minimally invasive thoracic surgical procedures at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He is an active member of the Thoracic Oncology Research Laboratory, serves as the educational coordinator for the Thoracic Surgery Service and is involved in a number of basic as well clinical research projects.Selected Publications
Kucharczuk JC, Kaiser LR: Bronchoplastic procedures. Robb & Smith's Operative Cardiac Surgery, Seventh Edition. Spray TL, Acker MA (eds.). Oxford, UK: Butterworth & Heineman Ltd. 2025 (in press).Kucharczuk JC, Kaiser LR: Flexible and rigid bronchoscopy. Robb & Smith's Operative Cardiac Surgery, Seventh Edition. Spray TL, Acker MA (eds.). Oxford, UK: Butterworth & Heineman Ltd. 2025 (in press).
Wang W, Scholes D, Roy M, Singhal S, Kucharczuk J, Jarrar D, Predina J, Pechet T, Sun L, Singh AP, Cohen RB, Langer CJ, Aggarwal C, Marmarelis ME: EMBER-Lung: Electronic medical record boosting molecular testing in early stage NSCLC. Journal of Clinical Oncology 43(16 Suppl), June 2025 Notes: Presented at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting I, ASCO, Chicago, IL, May 2025.
Krupp K, Leung G, Simon C, Kucharczuk J, Predina J, Hashimoto DA: Per oral transthoracic rendezvous for endoscopic closure of persistent gastropleural fistula that failed surgical management. VideoGIE 10(5 Suppl): S5, May 2025 Notes: Presented at Digestive Disease Week 2025, San Diego, CA, May 2025.
Soegaard Ballester JM, Kucharczuk JC: Esophageal-pericardial and esophageal-atrial fistulae. Thoracic Surgery Clinics 34(4): 395-403, Nov. 2024 Notes: Epub June 28, 2024.
Bou-Samra P, Chang A, Guo E, Azari F, Kennedy G, Din A, Pechet T, Jarrar D, Kucharczuk J, Predina J, Delikatny J, Low PS, Singhal S: Histology and lung nodule fluorescence in intraoperative molecular imaging with pafolacianine. Annals of Thoracic Surgery Short Reports 2(3): 432-437, Mar. 5 2024 Notes: eCollection Sept. 2024.
Simone CB, Yegya-Raman N, Manjunath S, Verma V, Shabason JE, Xu L, Cengel KA, Levin WP, Berman AT, Christodouleas JP, Aggarwal C, Cohen RB, Langer CJ, Pechet TT, Singal S, Kucharczuk JC, Rengan R, Feigenberg SJ: Prospective feasibility and phase I/II trial of preoperative proton beam therapy with concurrent chemotherapy for resectable stage IIIA or superior sulcus non-small cell lung cancer. International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics 117(3): 683-689, Nov. 1 2023 Notes: Epub May 17, 2023.
Azari F, Kennedy G, Bou-Samra P, Din A, Zhang K, Chang A, Ibrahimli A, Galandarova A, Kucharczuk J, Singhal S: First in human prospective validation of intraoperative artificial intelligence guided diagnosis of indeterminate lung nodules. Journal of Thoracic Oncology 18(11 Suppl): S137, Nov. 2023 Notes: Abstract MA11.03; Presented at the 2023 World Conference on Lung Cancer, Singapore, Sept. 2023.
Kennedy GT, Azari FS, Chang A, Chang A, Bou-Samra P, Desphande C, Delikatny EJ, Eruslanov E, Kucharczuk JC, Rice DC, Singhal S: A pH-activatable nanoprobe labels diverse histologic subtypes of human lung cancer during resection. Molecular Imaging & Biology 25(5): 824-832, Oct. 2023 Notes: Epub Sept. 11, 2023.
Azari F, Kennedy GT, Chang A, Bernstein E, Nadeem B, Pèlegrin A, Cailler F, Sullivan NT, Kucharczuk J, Singhal S: Glycoprotein receptor CEACAM5-targeted intraoperative molecular imaging tracer in non-small cell lung cancer. Annals of Thoracic Surgery 116(3): 631-641, Sept. 2023 Notes: Epub May 27, 2022.