Gary Friedlaender, MD, BS
Wayne O. Southwick Professor of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation and Professor of PathologyCards
About
Titles
Wayne O. Southwick Professor of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation and Professor of Pathology
Chair Emeritus, Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation
Biography
Dr. Friedlaender received his BA and MD degrees from the University of Michigan and his orthopaedic surgical training at Yale-New Haven Hospital and Newington Children’s Hospital. In 1976, after 2 years service in the U.S. Navy assigned to the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Dr. Friedlaender joined the full-time faculty of Yale University School of Medicine and since 1986 has served as the Wayne O. Southwick Professor and, until 2016, Chair of the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation and Chief of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at Yale New Haven Hospital. Dr. Friedlaender has also trained at Massachusetts General Hospital in musculoskeletal oncology, which remains his primary clinical and research interest.
Learn more about Dr. Friedlaender>>
Dr. Friedlaender has served as President of the American Association of Tissue Banks (1983-85), the American Council on Transplantation (1983-85), the Orthopaedic Research Society (1994-95), the Academic Orthopaedic Society (1995-96), the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons (2001-02) and the American Orthopaedic Association (2010-11). He has also chaired the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeon’s Council of Musculoskeletal Specialty Societies and served as a member of the Academy’s Board of Directors and as a member of the AAOS Committee on Ethics. In the past, Dr. Friedlaender served as Chair of the National Arthritis Board, NIAMS (NIH), as a member of the Orthopaedic Study Section at NIH and as a member of the Advisory Council of NIAMS. He was chair of the Research Committees of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the Academic Orthopaedic Society and chaired the AAOS work group on Tissue Banking Issues. He served or serves on the editorial boards of several journals, including the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, Spine, Journal of Orthopaedic Research and the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; and he has written numerous scientific publications and received national awards for his basic science research (Kappa Delta Award of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery and the Nicholas Andry Award of the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons).
Appointments
Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation
ProfessorPrimaryPathology
ProfessorSecondary
Other Departments & Organizations
Education & Training
- Fellow
- Massachusetts General Hospital (1983)
- Fellow
- Berg-Sloat Traveling Fellowship (Karolinska Inst,Oxford Univ,Univ Nottingham, Royal National Ortho), Sweden and England Bone Biology and Tumor Immunobiology (1976)
- Resident
- Yale-New Haven Hospital (1974)
- Fellow
- NIH-Post-doctoral Research Fellowship, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT Oncology and Immunobiology (1973)
- Resident
- University of Michigan (1971)
- Intern
- University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan Surgery (1970)
- MD
- University of Michigan Medical School (1969)
- Fellow
- Ford Foundation Fellowship in Reproductive Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan Reproductive Immunobiology (1969)
- BS
- University of Michigan, Zoology (1967)
Research
Publications
Featured Publications
CORR Insights®: Imposter Syndrome Among Surgeons is Associated With Intolerance of Uncertainty and Lower Confidence in Problem Solving
Friedlaender GE. CORR Insights®: Imposter Syndrome Among Surgeons is Associated With Intolerance of Uncertainty and Lower Confidence in Problem Solving. Clinical Orthopaedics And Related Research® 2022, 481: 672-674. PMID: 36166271, PMCID: PMC10013620, DOI: 10.1097/corr.0000000000002427.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchReply to the Letter to the Editor: Art in Science: Quackery and Promises Not Kept
Friedlaender GE, Friedlaender LK. Reply to the Letter to the Editor: Art in Science: Quackery and Promises Not Kept. Clinical Orthopaedics And Related Research® 2022, 480: 2060-2060. PMID: 36001023, PMCID: PMC9473757, DOI: 10.1097/corr.0000000000002350.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchArt in Science: Quackery and Promises Not Kept
Friedlaender GE, Friedlaender LK. Art in Science: Quackery and Promises Not Kept. Clinical Orthopaedics And Related Research® 2022, 480: 1458-1460. PMID: 35767816, PMCID: PMC9278922, DOI: 10.1097/corr.0000000000002290.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchArt in Science: Alchemy As Seen Through The Eyes of David Teniers the Younger
Friedlaender GE, Friedlaender LK. Art in Science: Alchemy As Seen Through The Eyes of David Teniers the Younger. Clinical Orthopaedics And Related Research® 2021, 480: 235-236. PMID: 34870955, PMCID: PMC8747614, DOI: 10.1097/corr.0000000000002069.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchArt in Science: The Boxer at Rest
Chan SM, Moran J, Friedlaender LK, Friedlaender GE. Art in Science: The Boxer at Rest. Clinical Orthopaedics And Related Research® 2021, 479: 1441-1443. PMID: 34106904, PMCID: PMC8208444, DOI: 10.1097/corr.0000000000001847.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchArt in Science-Humility: As Portrayed by Pietro Lorenzetti.
Flores M, Friedlaender LK, Friedlaender GE. Art in Science-Humility: As Portrayed by Pietro Lorenzetti. Clinical Orthopaedics And Related Research® 2021, 479: 458-460. PMID: 33543878, PMCID: PMC7899731, DOI: 10.1097/corr.0000000000001666.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchArt in Science-Goya to Dr. Arrieta: An Illustration of Patient-Physician Trust.
Chan SM, Friedlaender GE, Friedlaender LK. Art in Science-Goya to Dr. Arrieta: An Illustration of Patient-Physician Trust. Clinical Orthopaedics And Related Research® 2020, 478: 2221-2224. PMID: 32898044, PMCID: PMC7491894, DOI: 10.1097/corr.0000000000001470.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchArt in Science: Pieter Bruegel the Elder and the Plague.
Friedlaender GE, Friedlaender LK. Art in Science: Pieter Bruegel the Elder and the Plague. Clinical Orthopaedics And Related Research® 2020, 478: 1416-1418. PMID: 32574469, PMCID: PMC7310395, DOI: 10.1097/corr.0000000000001325.Peer-Reviewed Original Research
2024
Progression of Femoral Osteolytic Metastases after Intramedullary Nailing and Subsequent Salvage Techniques
Jiang W, Latich I, Lindskog D, Friedlaender G, Lee F. Progression of Femoral Osteolytic Metastases after Intramedullary Nailing and Subsequent Salvage Techniques. Cancers 2024, 16: 2812. DOI: 10.3390/cancers16162812.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchPre-existing lesionsOsteolytic metastasesIntramedullary nailingCancer progressionTwo-week postoperative follow-upFollow-upSalvage techniqueFunction scoresRadiation-resistant tumorsPoor surgical candidacyPostoperative follow-upNail failureTransport of cancer cellsPostoperative radiationSurgical salvageCombined painSingle-institutionSurgical outcomesIntramedullary nail insertionPathological fracturesRetrospective studySurgical candidacyAdult patientsPercutaneous salvageOsteolytic lesions
2023
Bone Mass Changes Following Percutaneous Radiofrequency Ablation, Osteoplasty, Reinforcement, and Internal Fixation of Periacetabular Osteolytic Metastases
Jiang W, Caruana D, Dussik C, Conway D, Latich I, Chapiro J, Lindskog D, Friedlaender G, Lee F. Bone Mass Changes Following Percutaneous Radiofrequency Ablation, Osteoplasty, Reinforcement, and Internal Fixation of Periacetabular Osteolytic Metastases. Journal Of Clinical Medicine 2023, 12: 4613. PMID: 37510728, PMCID: PMC10380351, DOI: 10.3390/jcm12144613.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchPercutaneous radiofrequency ablationBone mass changesCT scanMedian survivalHounsfield unitsOsteolytic metastasesRadiofrequency ablationBone massCancer-induced bone lossSuperior median survivalAvailable CT scansThree-dimensional volumetric analysisInternal screw fixationPeriacetabular areaPercutaneous stabilizationBone lossInternal fixationSingle institutionOrthopedic interventionsScrew fixationPatientsMonthsVolumetric analysisSurvivalScans
Academic Achievements and Community Involvement
Clinical Care
Overview
Gary E. Friedlaender, MD, is an orthopaedic surgeon who specializes in musculoskeletal oncology, or benign and malignant tumors of the bones. He leads the Sarcoma Program at Smilow Cancer Hospital, treating rare cancers that involve the bones, cartilage, muscle and other tissues in the body.
Dr. Friedlaender has achieved national recognition for his surgical innovations, including development of limb-salvaging techniques that are now considered essential to orthopaedic oncology surgery.
However, he considers his close connections with his patients to be the key element in his approach to orthopaedics. Good physicians are great communicators—skilled at discovering information that patients may be reluctant to share, or that they have misinterpreted or forgotten, Dr. Friedlaender says. He tells new doctors, “In asking what is bothering the patient, we must convey our interest in hearing what they have to say. Sit down, make eye contact, ask open-ended questions, and, whatever you do, don’t interrupt.”
Dr. Friedlaender is a professor of orthopaedics and rehabilitation at Yale School of Medicine. He was chair of the department for 30 years, and was responsible for making Yale Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation a leader in the field. He has served as president of several important professional organizations, including the American Orthopaedic Association. Connecticut Magazine has included Dr. Friedlaender in its annual lists of Top Docs in the state.
He says he decided to enter the medical field when he was a child, after watching his father, also a physician, at work. He chose to pursue orthopaedics because he admired the doctors who treated the musculoskeletal injuries he had as a child. He has seen the field change dramatically since then. When he was a resident in the 1970s, the survival rate for osteosarcoma, the most common type of bone cancer, was 15 to 20 percent; now the cure rate is 80 percent.
“I get joy from working in an environment like Yale, and even more so now with Smilow Cancer Hospital,” Dr. Friedlaender says. “There are so many capable, creative and energetic physicians and they are all under one roof. The scientists, nursing staff, and support individuals make the work in oncology not only possible, but rewarding. It’s all about the patient.”
Clinical Specialties
Fact Sheets
Bone Cancer
Learn More on Yale MedicineSoft Tissue Sarcomas
Learn More on Yale MedicineDiagnosing Pediatric Sarcomas
Learn More on Yale MedicineNeoplasm (Tumor)
Learn More on Yale Medicine
Board Certifications
Orthopaedic Surgery
- Certification Organization
- AB of Orthopaedic Surgery
- Original Certification Date
- 1975
Yale Medicine News
Links & Media
News
- May 02, 2024
2024 “Top Doctors” List Features 15 Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation Faculty
- July 13, 2023Source: Orthopaedics Today
Minimally invasive procedure enhances care for periacetabular osteolytic metastasis
- June 05, 2023Source: The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
Elite Reviewer Spotlight: Gary E. Friedlaender
- May 04, 2023
2023 “Top Doctors” List Features 12 Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation Faculty