- Specialty Pleural Mesothelioma
- Procedure Immunochemotherapy
- NYU Langone Health 160 East 34th Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10016

Dr. Harvey Pass
Thoracic Surgeon
Dr. Harvey Pass is a well-known thoracic and cardiac surgeon. With over 500 publications to his name, he is at the forefront of new diagnosis and treatment methods for mesothelioma. This includes his research on immunochemotherapy, which he pioneered as a treatment method for mesothelioma.
About Dr. Harvey Pass
Dr. Harvey has been in practice as a thoracic and cardiac surgeon for more than 20 years.
He currently works at the NYU Langone Medical Center in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery as the Stephen E. Banner Professor of Thoracic Oncology. He is also the Vice Chair for Research for the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and a professor in their surgery department.
In addition to seeing patients and teaching future thoracic oncologists, Dr. Pass spends time researching new treatment methods, writing about his studies and editing the works of fellow researchers.
Awards
Dr. Harvey Pass has received many prestigious awards over the years including:
- National Institutes of Health Directors Award
- Wagner Medallion
- Landon Research Award
- Mesothelioma Foundation’s Pioneer Award
- International Association for Lung Cancer Merit Award
He also has won several consecutive top doctors awards, including:
- Top Doctors: New York Metro Area award
- New York Magazine: Top Doctors award
- America’s Top Doctors for Cancer award
- America’s Top Doctors award
Contributions
Dr. Harvey Pass is currently one of the editors for the academic journal Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, which is written for the American Association for Thoracic Surgery.
Although the association’s name says American, it’s actually an international organization made up of more than 1,300 cardiothoracic surgeons from 41 different countries.
On top of being an editor for Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Dr. Pass has authored and co-authored more than 500 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He has also edited a variety of books including Lung Cancer: Principles and Practice and IASLC Thoracic Oncology.
Dr. Harvey Pass co-authored ‘100 Questions & Answers About Mesothelioma’ — a renowned book combining medical and patient perspectives.
It guides patients and families through mesothelioma diagnosis and treatment, covering standard treatments and side effects, available support resources, quality of life expectations, legal rights and how to talk about a diagnosis with friends and family.
As shown by the number of publications he has, Dr. Pass is an avid researcher, which is part of the reason he helped found the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation (MARF).
Throughout his career, he has actively researched pleural mesothelioma and novel treatments. In fact, he has been credited with being one of the first to use immunochemotherapy as a treatment for mesothelioma.
Background
Dr. Harvey Pass received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University Duke Medical School, where he graduated as a Phi Beta Kappa in 1973.
Upon graduation, he served on Staten Island at the United States Public Health Service Hospital for 2 years as a Lieutenant Commander in the commissioned corps.
He completed his general surgery residency at the University of Mississippi. He then completed another residency in cardiothoracic surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina. During his time at the Medical University of South Carolina, he also worked as an assistant professor.
After becoming certified by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery in 1983, he did a Cardiothoracic Surgery fellowship at the National Institute of Health (NIH).
While at the NIH, he became Chief of Thoracic Oncology for the Surgery Branch for the National Cancer Institute. Once he finished working for NIH, he went to the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, Michigan.